Rooney vs. Drogba, Round 2: The World Cup

May 9th, 2010 | by: Ian Rose |

drogba Today, as you probably know, Chelsea wrapped up the Premier League title with a 8-0 hammering of Wigan at Stamford Bridge. Of those eight, three belonged to one Didier Drogba, making his season total an impressive 29 league goals. Wayne Rooney added none to his total, also 26 going into the final round, and so Drogba will be the Premier League golden boot winner.

The question is: Will he also be able to outscore Rooney in the World Cup? Which do you think has the better shot at the honor of top scorer in South Africa?

Drogba certainly has added to his case lately, and probably has the edge on form. Rooney had a ridiculously productive winter, but with nagging injuries, has fallen off of his incredible early-season pace. In today’s 4-0 win over Stoke, Rooney again aggravated his groin injury.

However, to win the golden boot in the World Cup, you need two things – to score goals in the (relatively easier) group stage, and to have your team advance far in the tournament, and on these points, England and Rooney may have the advantage. Statistically, Cote d’Ivoire’s Group G looks the harder one, both to score in and advance from. Brazil and Portugal are two very difficult opponents, though admittedly North Korea probably offers the best chance of either group to pile on goals. If either Drogba or Rooney is going to get a World Cup hat trick, I’d put good money on it being Drogs against North Korea.

England’s Group C opponents (Algeria, Slovenia and the USA) are weaker overall, and I have to put their chances of getting into the second round a bit higher, but there’s no team as clearly weak on paper as North Korea in Group G.

So, I put it to you, the readers, to make your early predictions. Who will score more?

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Peter

Rooney simply because he has many ‘feeders’ like Gerrard,Lampard,G.Johnson where Ivory Coast have no known playmakers.
Cate

Messi will rape them both
Seth

What Cate said.
http://www.riotudobom.com John Gamble

Which do you think has the better shot at the honor of top scorer in South Africa?

IMO, probably neither. Rooney’s limping into the tourney with an aggravated groin – they tend to linger and play with your head.
Drogba’s team is likely to exit the tourney after 3 games.

Who will score more?

IMO, Rooney, since he’ll likely play more games. He’s also England’s lone striker and will get a ton of chances to capitalize.
Jose

Rooney will get more goals but neither will get the Golden Boot. Mostly because Drogba might not score much given that: a) Brazil likely won’t give CdI too many shots on goal, b) North Korea, although not very good, have one of the most frustrating defensive setups in Asia that was set up specifically to deny the big strikers of the Middle Eastern teams, and c) even if they make it out of the group with Brazil or Portugal, they’ll most likely face Spain… so I don’t see them advancing very far :(