Who Will Take the Golden Boot at Euro 2008?

Over at the BBC Euro 2008 Blog, Steve Wilson is fitting various strikers for the Golden Boot. Wilson lets a number of competing forwards try it on for size and seems to fancy Czech Republic giant Jan Koller to finish the tournament as top scorer.

I’m not sure the Golden Boot comes in size 15, but I think Wilson’s right about the top scorer not necessarily being a name you expect (Ronaldo, Torres etc). On the other hand it might very well be. That’s the thing about predictions, you never really know what’s going to happen.

Below we pick our favourites to finish with the most goals in Swissaustria…

Well, why not Cristiano Ronaldo? OK, so he’s not a striker, but spending time on the right wing at Old Trafford this season didn’t stop him scoring 31 goals in the Premier League. International football may not be as open as Premiership football, but then neither is the Champions League. And Ronaldo was top scorer in that too with eight goals (could have had more if he hadn’t fluffed that penalty.)

Ronaldo’s is yet to light up an international tournament like he does the Premier League, but his two golden years (2006/7 and 2007/8) both came post-World Cup 2006. So Euro 2008 is the first time we’ll see the C-Ron that scored 65 goals in the last two seasons at an international tournament.

And while Portugal’s lack of a quality striker (no offence to Hugo Almeida intended) is definitely not a good thing for the Selecção das Quinas, it bodes well for Ronaldo’s Golden Boot chances. All that creativity in the Portugal team (Deco, Ricardo Quaresma etc) and the goals have to come from somewhere. My money would be on C-Ron.

Finally yes, he’s arrogant. But C-Ron is at his confident best when he’s full of himself. And how much more full of yourself can you be than having two clubs like Manchester United and Real Madrid begging you to play for them?
-Daryl

I’m a huge fan of the France team, so everybody probably expects me to go with the obvious: Karim Benzema. I wish I could. I love the kid, and he can be an amazing scoring machine. When he’s on top of his game, he’s unbeatable.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure he’s at the top of his game. Lyon coach Alain Perrin played him as much as possible in every game possible this year. It seemed to me that the only way the poor kid could get a day off was to be injured. And Lyon played right up to the Coupe de France final on May 24. That’s a lot of games. To me, Benzema looks…tired.

I hope I’m wrong. I’d love to be wrong. But my pick for Golden Boot goes to Mario Gomez of Germany. The reason: Numbers. Ninteen goals in 25 games for VfB Stuttgart? And it’s not just that — it’s the German team who will be with him on the field. He’s going to have the players behind him who are capable of feeding him the balls he can put in the net. So with reluctance, my vote goes to Gomez.
-Laurie

The Euro Golden Boot has always been a bit hard to predict. Who would have seen Milan Baros taking it in 2004? The most obvious choice never seems to make it, and to me the most obvious in this tournament are Cristiano Ronaldo and Fernando Torres.

Both have a shot at it, if their stellar form holds up, but the one I pick to separate himself from the pack this June is Italy and Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni.

Despite the tough road ahead in Group C, Tonigol is going to be the target man in an Italy side absolutely brimming with midfield and attacking talent. Gomez or Torres have easier roads to the knockouts, but Toni is the one player I can see just singlehandedly destroying the Group of Death.

His one-man comeback in the UEFA Cup against Getafe broke a lot of Spanish hearts, and he may do the same for fans expecting Torres to take home Euro hardware.
-Ian

With the deepest of deep condolences to the co-hosts, conventional wisdom says the high scorer of the tournament is going to come out of Group B after someone goes bananas on Austria and knocks in 7 goals by the time the crowd is good and limber.

Because the favorites, Germany, are in the group and pose a huge strikeforce, the safe bet says it’ll be one of them. The argument for many has been Mario Gomez, superstud in his own right, ready to make Europe his playground. But the quiet consistency of Miroslav Klose is what sells me.

The future of the German attack may reside with Gomez and Lukas Podolski, but Miroslav’s history in international tournaments speaks for itself. After 5 goals in World Cup 2002, he only saw 34 minutes in two games during the festivities in 2004, before bouncing back with another 5 at home in 2006. Podolski led the squad in qualifying with 8, but Klose parked in another 5, a number he can’t seem to get away from when it comes to international action – 5 also being the same total used to win the last 3 Golden Boots.

Not to mention a total of 21 for Bayern across all fronts this year despite playing second fiddle to Luca Toni. So while everyone will be paying attention to the hottest new sportscar on the lot, Gomez, I’ll take the dependable sedan in Klose and his 5 to win the gilded boot as Germany rolls towards the final in arguably the weaker bracket.
- Chris