The European Golden Shoe Standings – Now Pretty.

Seems like it’s about that time of year, when we can start to pick apart contenders, pretenders and unknowns.

Last year, Marc Janko was the hot name scoring beaucoup goals in a league with a tiny coefficient, which made it all for naught. Well, he was for awhile – he, much like the Alps, was chilled by the Austrian winter. This year it’s Luis Suarez, who can’t help himself scoring goals – 34 in 31 now for all competitions, including another four yesterday – but just as equally can’t help the Eredivisie’s meager 1.5 coefficient.

Which means I suppose those not reading this page via braille – however difficult that may be – should be able to figure out who’s currently atop the standings. (Unless his forehead protrudes from the page in braille, which it very well may.)

Key note: ESM Golden Shoe only takes into account domestic league games. So Jermain Defoe’s triple against Leeds in the FA Cup yesterday? Nice, but worth nothin’. Didier Drogba’s lonely goal in Angola? Still in Africa. Leagues only.

The top ten, via World Soccer, with [goals] x [coefficient] and finally points. (a x b =c)

And who said you’d never need math in this, the real world.

1. Wayne Rooney Man. United (Eng) 20 x 2 40
2. Luis Suarez Ajax (Ned) 22 x 1,5 33
3. Welliton Soares Spartak Moskou (Rus) 21 x 1,5 31,5
4. Lionel Messi Barcelona (Spa) 15 x 2 30
Jermaine Defoe Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) 15 x 2 30
Kristaps Grebis Metalurgs Liepaja (Latvia) 30 x 1 30
Didier Drogba Chelsea (Eng) 15 x 2 30
8. Kris Boyd Glasgow Rangers (Sch) 19 x 1,5 28,5
9. David Villa Valencia (Spa) 14 x 2 28
Darren Bent Sunderland (Eng) 14 x 2 28

* – Welliton & Kristaps Grebis won’t be long on this list. Both of their leagues are done and thus those totals are full years, rather than the closer to half of the rest.

Like most years, a mix of superstar strikers and goal poaching savages from smaller leagues. And Darren Bent.

It would appear Wayne is the favorite – so nearly ‘heavy’ favorite, but he’s played six more now and has four fewer left than that Messi fellow (who’s decent) – to pick up this years trophy, unless someone can go on a machine gun-wieldin’, bad guy-thumpin’, Hollywood-styled run like the one Diego Forlan went on during the final months of last year (he was scoring so much with such reckless abandon there’s every chance he inadvertently fathered Giannina Maradona’s baby, too).

Or perhaps the race blows open with a long term injury for Pretty Boy. ‘Tis a World Cup year, after all, thus the dreaded metatarsal must be lurking somewhere…

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Category: Europe, World Football