David Villa, Gonzalo Higuain, Luis Fabiano and Luis Suarez all in contention for Golden Boot award

With the 2010 World Cup now down to just eight teams, the list of players capable of winning the golden boot award for being the top goalscorer in South Africa has been trimmed dramatically.

There are now only realistically four contenders for the prize, with David Villa (15/8, Bet365) of Spain and Gonzalo Higuain (13/4, Bwin) of Argentina leading the way with four goals each.

Both will fancy their chances of getting on the scoresheet in the quarter-finals, with Villa possibly making more appeal at the moment as Spain have a greater chance of getting goals and progressing against Paraguay than Argentina do against Germany.

Like Argentina, Brazil face a tough quarter final tie, against the Netherlands and so Luis Fabiano (23/4, Bwin) is probably best left alone, particularly as he sits a goal behind both Villa and Higuain, with three goals so far in South Africa.

The value bet in the market is the other striker currently on three goals, Luis Suarez of Uruguay. The Ajax striker failed to score in his opening two matches at the World Cup, but has netted three in his last two games to bring himself into contention for the golden boot award.

Suarez can be backed at 14/1 (BetFred) to be the top scorer in the tournament and he should be able to boost his tally against Ghana in the quarter-finals, a match that Uruguay can win, giving the striker another two matches in which to attempt to find the net (semi-final plus either final or 3rd place play-off match).

BetFred offer to pay out ¼ odds on the top three scorers in South Africa, so realistically, Suarez will need to score two more goals to give a return. He is more than capable of that, and it would be no surprise if he were to get at least that many on Friday night.

Recommendation

Top Goalscorer (e/w) – Luis Suarez (14/1, BetFred)