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While winning the
World Cup trophy is the desire of all the 32 countries on parade at
football’s greatest showpiece taking place in South Africa, some
strikers at the tournament hope to add more feathers to their caps by
taking home the adidas Golden Shoe award, reserved for players that
bang in the highest number of goals.

The favourites to
win the tournament include the usual suspects: Brazil, Argentina,
Netherlands and Spain but pundits are yet to agree on who will take the
biggest individual honour home.

A list of contenders shows that the battle for the Golden Shoe in South Africa is too close to call.

Miroslav Klose

The German striker
is worthy of mention even though he scored only three league goals for
Bayern Munich last season and has looked out of form in most of
Germany’s World Cup warm-up matches in recent months. At the last
edition of the World Cup on home soil, he won the accolade with five
goals to his credit even though his country only reached the
semi-finals.

Klose also scored
five goals in his debut World Cup in Korea/Japan 2002 giving him a
total of ten goals in World Cup finals and making him the only player
to have scored five or more goals in consecutive World Cups.

He has scored 48 goals in 96 appearances for the Germans, and in South Africa he is sure to add to that total.

Wayne Rooney

The Manchester
United striker was the toast of many football fans last season scoring
26 Premier League goals before cupping a groin injury.

He would making his second World Cup appearance this year after entering the 2006 edition not fully fit.

If any of Fabio
Capello’s men can emulate Mexico 86 adidas Golden Shoe winner Gary
Lineker it looks more likely to be the Manchester United forward.

He currently has 25
goals in 60 games for the Three Lions and should add several goals to
his total depending upon how far his team can go in the tournament.

Cristiano Ronaldo

The Portuguese
Points-man is the world’s most expensive player and in normal
circumstances the odds of being a top scorer would be high.

However a dip in
form for the national team in which he failed to score a single goal
en-route qualification for the World Cup finals is worrisome.

Ronaldo is a player many do not like, but everyone has to respect his abundant talent and display on the pitch.

However a tough
group containing Brazil and Ivory Coast could send him home early. It
is unlikely he will score many against these sides but there is the
possibility of hitting several against North Korea.

Luis Fabiano

He will likely be
Brazil’s main candidate to finish top of the goal scoring charts having
hit five goals in five games in the team’s FIFA Confederation’s Cup
victory last year.

Fabiano has scored
25 goals in just 36 national team appearances for the Brazilians. The
only thing that might prevent him from taking home the Golden Boot are
his Brazilian teammates who include several other top goal scorers like
Robinho, Kaka and the likes. There might not be enough ball to go
around for a stacked Brazilian squad.

Lionel Messi

Argentina perhaps
has the most potent attack on paper at this edition of the World Cup
with players like Carlos Tevez, Gonzalo Higuain – who outscored
teammate Ronaldo – and Sergei Aguero all in its fold.

However many tip
the Barcelona whiz kid; Messi to emerge as tournament highest goal
scorer if only he can replicate his awesome goal scoring prowess in
Barcelona at the national team. He has 85 goals in 2 seasons at
Barcelona; however his 13 goals in 44 appearances for Argentina does
not inspire so much confidence.

Nevertheless he is
still unstoppable and could tear defences apart making Argentina to
rule the world with a third World Cup win. If he does achieve the feat,
he would be following the footsteps of Argentina’s previous winners;
Mario Kempes – six goals for 1978’s champions and Guillermo Stabile –
eight in the inaugural event in 1930.

David Villa

With Fernado Tores
not 100% fit going into the World Cup, Villa might be entrusted with
the goal scoring duties for Spain who many regard as strong favourites
to win the World Cup.

The 28-year-old
Spaniard made his mark at Euro 2008 when he scored four goals in four
games, propelling his team to the win. He’s the country’s second
highest goal scorer with 36 goals, just eight behind Raul.

His 21 La Liga
goals for Valencia last season earned him a dream move to Barcelona.
With a robust midfield sure to supply the need passes the Barcelona new
signing can sure dream of carting away not just the World Cup trophy
but also the Golden Boots award if Spain indeed goes far in 2010 as
expected.

Didier Drogba

After initially
sustaining an injury which seemed that would knock him out of the first
World Cup on Africa soil; Drogba is set to make his second successive
World Cup appearance.

Emerging as the top
scorer in the English Premiership last season is no mean feat as Drogba
over time have proved to be crucial to both club and country; scoring
vital goals for both.

He is an exciting
player who is a constant threat to score for Cote d’Ivoire side that
some say they have a good chance to advancing out of group play. He has
scored 43 goals in just 66 games for his national team-an amazing
total. If his team advances deep into the tournament, he might very
well take home the golden boot.

Samuel Eto’o

Though Eto’o has
only managed one goal in two World Cup finals, he is quite capable of
mixing it with the best if Cameroon gives him adequate service.

Inter Milan forward
Samuel Eto’o is the best player on the Cameroon team; winning the
African footballer of the year award a record three successive times.
Eto’o has proved himself on the continent in several ways and he is
currently the all time highest goal scorer in the Africa Nations Cup.

He has scored 44 goals in 94 games for the Indomitable Lions and will surely add to those accomplishments in South Africa.

Yakubu Aiyegbeni

A surprise inclusion no doubt, Aiyegbeni is the current Super Eagles leading scorer with over twenty goals to his credit.

The Everton striker
has already made known his intention to make history at the World Cup
as the first African to win the Golden Boot award when he recently
spoke with his club TV (Everton TV). A tall dream no doubt, his current
rankings as one of top scorers in the English Premiership might count
as hostilities continue in the World Cup.

Although the top
scorer is most likely to come for a side that makes it at least to the
quarter finals of the World Cup, odd things can happen.

Russian striker,
Oleg Salenko scored five goals in one match against Cameroon in USA
1994 and was joint top scorer despite his side Russia bowing out in the
first round.

The above are just
some of the contenders, there are of course many more that could throw
in one or two surprises to emerge as the tournament’s goal king.