Will Rodriguez Hold On To His Lead And Grab The Golden Boot: Fresh World Cup Betting Odds

James Rodriguez is leading the odds for the World Cup top goalscorer even though Colombia are out of the competition.

The 2014 World Cup is almost over with only 4 matches left until the new champion is decided. But of course the betting on the tournament under British gambling laws is still going strong. Besides wagering on the remaining matches and the outright winner, the top goalscorer market is still one of the most popular ones.

Well resilient Colombia have been knocked out of the World Cup by the hosts Brazil. But James Rodriguez is still leading the top goalscorer charts with 6 goals, 2 goals ahead of any other contender. This is why online sportsbooks in the United Kingdom are favoring the Colombian to win the Golden Boot with 1.66 odds.

While the two goal lead is certainly impressive at this point, Colombia and Rodriguez will not have a chance to increase that, while the other teams and players running for the award will have two games more to play. Take Lionel Messi’s Argentina, they are now the favorites to beat Netherlands tomorrow and reach the final, and who says Messi can’t score twice or even more to beat the 22-year-old from Colombia? Bet365 is giving Barca’s man 5.00 odds to win the prestigious award.

Others in the running

Can Rodriguez hold on to his lead in the goal scoring table and win the Golden Boot?

• Online sportsbooks in the United Kingdom certainly think so

• With Brazil’s Neymar out of the competition the door is open for other players

• The closest contenders are Lionel Messi and Thomas Muller

Brazil may have sent Colombia home, but they did so at the expense of losing Neymar to injury. Barcelona striker was their primary hope for the top goalscorer award, but he will remain at four goals in this tournament, as he was already ruled out from participating in remaining matches. And of course the bookies are no longer giving odds on him winning the award. All bets are off here, my friends.

Those who bet on sports in the United Kingdom can also support Lionel Messi at 5.00 odds to lift the prestigious award. Messi has been the key to Argentina making it so far in the tournament, and he will remain the integral part of their mid-field and offense in the coming two matches as well. But Messi himself is saying he’d rather win the World Cup with the Albiceleste than take home the Golden Boot, sure Lionel, we believe you.

Having said all that, Messi has still failed to find the back of the net during the last two matches for Argentina, even though he played a huge part in setting up their winning goals. Considering the generous line given on Messi to win the Golden Boot at this point, backing him might be a smart bet for punters. The odds will surely change after tonight’s game, and will change again after tomorrow’s, when Argentina is back in action.

Germany’s Thomas Muller was the winner of the Golden Boot at the last World Cup in South Africa. He’s certainly looking to become the first ever man to win the award twice in a row. Muller got off to a fantastic start by scoring a hat-trick in the opening game against Portugal.

But things went down thereafter and he only managed a single goal since then. He’s now priced at 5.50 from Bovada to win the Golden Boot, pretty close to Messi’s odds. And then again, just like Messi and Argentina, Muller and Germany have two games left to play with plenty of chances to outscore currently leading Rodriguez.

The Netherlands were criticized by many experts during this World Cup, but the Dutch have made it this far, and who says they won’t be able to go even further. Of course Argentina will stand in the way tomorrow, but there’s two matches left for them anyhow.

Both Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben stand at 3 goals each, including the highly spectacular Van Persie dive-goal against Spain in the opener. Naturally, their odds on becoming the tournament’s topscorers are a bit longer than the rest. Van Persie is priced at 17.00 odds, while Robben got a line of 21.00 to win the award.

As for the rest of the field, including the likes of Fred, Higuain, Depay, Klose, Hulk, Oscar and Gotze, their odds are too long to even be considered the likely winners of the Golden Boot. The difference between 21.00 odds for Robben and 201.00 for Fred speaks for itself.

Can Rodriguez hold on to the lead?

James Rodriguez has certainly impressed everyone with his immaculate individual performance. Monaco striker of course deserves to win the award, and there’s a big chance that he actually win, considering the other contenders weren’t really in a goal-scoring mood throughout the knockouts. But the fact that the Colombian will not be playing anymore certainly puts him at a disadvantage compared to the others.

Whoever wins the Golden Boot on Sunday, one thing will remain true: this World Cup has already given us a plethora of amazing goals, and with four more games left to play there’s no doubt more will be scored in the next two days and over the weekend.