Herr Hippo outlines below the credentials of two candidates who he thinks have an outside chance of being top scorer at World Cup 2006.

Jared Borgetti, Mexico
Borgetti scored 14 times in 18 World Cup qualifiers, including goals against Mexico’s closest rivals in the CONCACAF region, USA and Costa Rica. He’s a well-established international striker and has World Cup experience, scoring twice at the 2002 finals. He is strong in the air, a good finisher, and links up well with pacy strike partner Francisco Fonseca. Borgetti played his club football with Bolton Wanderers this year and was given very little opportunity to demonstrate his ability. He played his first full 90 minutes in the league against Charlton in April (finding the net in a 4-1 victory). He has played enough football to retain his sharpness though, and will go to the World Cup a fresher player than many of his rival goal poachers. Mexico have been drawn with Iran and Angola for the group stage, and there’s a good chance they could beat both of these outsiders by a significant margin. Mexico will also fancy their chances of getting at least one goal against Group D favourites Portugal. Borgetti could therefore leave the group stage with several goals to his name. If Mexico progress as expected to the second round they will face a team from the strongest group (Group C), but with Borgetti upfront they have the firepower to cause an upset.

Alexander Frei, Switzerland
Frei scored 8 goals to assist Switzerland’s qualification for Germany. He is not a particularly imposing or quick forward but his goalscoring record is impressive. He scored 20 times for his club side Rennes in consecutive seasons, and this total was sufficient to make him the top marksman in Ligue 1 for the 2004/05 season. A groin operation in February of this year kept him out for a couple of months, but he returned before the end of the season and hit two goals in Rennes’ penultimate league match against Lille. Frei is, therefore, apparently in good form, and his mid-season break should mean that his fitness level is spot on for this summer. To make it to Germany, Switzerland had to tackle Turkey in a play-off: Switzerland triumphed in a very fractious and heated fixture, suggesting that they are no pushovers. Group G could provide a well-organised team like Switzerland plenty of goalscoring opportunities: Togo are the lowest ranked team in the competition, and South Korea surely can’t repeat their success of 2002. Switzerland also played France, the Group G favourites, twice on their way to the finals - and didn’t lose on either occasion. It therefore wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see Switzerland top the group, and if they do, the draw should be quite favourable. Frei could be scoring goals for Switzerland all the way through to the latter stages of the tournament!

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