Neymar, the Barcelona superstar is an amazing player. He is skilful, fast and can score goals. Millions of football lovers all over the world are expecting him to dazzle in the World Cup, where the little Brazilian could be one of the contenders to win the prestigious Golden Boot award.
The 22-year-old has been enjoying a good first season at the Catalan club, where he has racked up nine goals in 23 league appearances. With so many world class players around – Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Aguero et al – that are capable of winning the Golden boot, certainly making our world cup 2014 predictions tougher than ever.
Generally, the top scorer of a World Cup is usually a striker, rather classic no 9. Eight of the nine top goal scorers in the last five World Cups are all strikers, with just one attacking midfielder, Thomas Muller of Germany in 2010, emerging as a top goal scorer.
Also, the average number of goals scored by the top scorer has been six goals. In 2002 World Cup, Brazil’s Ronaldo scored eight goals, but apart from that, it generally ranges between five to six goals.
Squad strength is one of the key factors while making world cup predictions for top goal scorers. Brazil, the winners of the 2013 Confederations Cup, have a strong depth in the squad that makes them favourite apart from their home ground advantage.
In the last five editions of the World Cup, the top scorers of the competition have played maximum number of matches (seven) at the tournament. With Brazil expected to improve on their last home World Cup performance and win their record sixth World Cup, Neymar would be a good bet to be one of the top goalscorers in Brazil 2014.
