Even though the golden boot title, award for the top striker at a tournament, is one of the most wanted trophies for any individual footballer, the award Spain’s Fernando Torres won at the Confederation Cup on Sunday is no more than a consolation prize as it was not the result of a hardworking process.
The Spanish striker outplayed Fred and Neymar of Brazil to win the Golden Shoe award, while Brazilian Julio Cesar won the Golden Glove, and Neymar, the Golden Ball. Torres, who was once the top striker at the Euro 2012, grabbed the trophy by a tie-breaker as both Fred and he scored five, while Neymar, the tournament’s best player, netted four goals.
The first tie-breaker is the number of assists, but as the two once again shared the same number — though just one, it had to be decided by another factor: the minutes they played at the tournament, which is 273 minutes for the Chelsea striker, and 423 for the Brazilian.
As he achieved the goal harvest with a much shorter time, Torres beat Fred to take home the Adidas Golden Shoe.
But he seems unhappy with the award, not merely because the Spanish lost the game.
Four out of the five goals that earned him the golden boot were scored against the Tahiti, which lost all three games at the group stage, conceding 24 goals.
Spain trounced the fearless team 10 – 0 when they met at the second group stage round on June 20.
Ironically enough, the remaining goal of Torres was scored against Nigeria, the only team that conceded a goal to Tahiti — the latter’s only goal at the tournament.
Torres moved to Chelsea in January 2011, and has since achieved only 15 goals in 82 Premier League games, and 10 goals in international matches, including the infamous four against Tahiti.
Fully acknowledging the history of his award, Torres found it hard to crack a smile when he stepped on the highest podium to claim the trophy.
The Spanish also has another consolation prize as Spain won the tournament’s Fair Play award.
Đăng ký: VietNam News