Football / Sports

Messi leading the race to Golden Boot?

Will Lionel Messi win the Golden Boot award in the current edition of Copa America?

The 2021 edition of the Copa America is underway, and Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Colombia are the four semi-finalists vying for the top prize.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi has been the standout performer in the competition with four goals and has also provided as many assists. Interestingly, it must be mentioned that Messi has never won the Golden Boot award at Copa America.

Messi needs four more goals to equal Norbeto Mendez (Agrentina) and Zizinho (Brazil)’s tally of 17 goals each, who are the all-time top scorers at Copa America.

He started the 2021 edition of the tournament in style with a gem of a free-kick against Chile before adding a couple against Bolivia in their last group game. In the quarterfinal against Ecuador, Messi was in sublime form as he provided two assists and scored at the death from a free-kick.

Messi is the only player with four goals to his name. There are 10 players who have scored twice in this competition however, only five are still in contention with their teams being in the semis.

Player Team Goals
Lionel Messi Argentina 4
Papu Gomez Argentina 2
Lautaro Martinez Argentina 2
Andre Carillo Peru 2
Gianluca Lapadula Peru 2
Neymar Brazil 2

The other players who have scored two goals are: Erwin Saavedra (Bolivia), Edinson Cavani (Uruguay) Ángel Romero (Paraguay), Ayrton Preciado (Ecuador) and  Eduardo Vargas (Chile)

…
Football / Sports

Nigeria Are No Walkover – Messi

Argentina captain Lionel Messi has warned that Nigeria “will be no walkover” at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The Albiceleste have defeated the West Africans in all their previous meetings at the tournament, but in November they went down 4-2 to Gernot Rohr’s side in a friendly tie.
They lock horns with the Super Eagles in their last group game at the Saint-Petersburg Stadium after ties with other group D rivals Iceland and Croatia.
And the Barcelona star is certain that the encounter with Gernot Rohr’s side will be a tough one.
“Croatia is a good team with players in the big European leagues and that makes them dangerous,” Messi told the Express.
“We don’t know so much about Nigeria but the African teams are normally compact, tough and strong. So it will be no walkover.”
…
Sports

Check Out The Latest Forbes List Of Top 10 Highest Earning Athletes

according to the list released by Forbes Magazine, US boxer Floyed Mayweatherhas regained his title in the Forbes rankings of the world’s top 100 earning athletes.

He earned a $275m (£205m) for his boxing match in August against UFC star Conor Mcgregor, who is number four on the US business magazine’s list.
Messi has overtaken rival, Cristiano Ronaldo on the list of the World’s top 100 earning athletes 2018.

Messi has edged out Ronaldo in this year’s latest list of top 100 earning athletes in the world.

Cristiano Ronaldo – top for the past two years – drops to third, with Lionel Messi edging him out of second place.

There are no women on the list, after the previous sole entrant, Serena Williams, dropped out of the chart.

The top 100 athletes earned a total of $3.8bn, up 23% from last year, Forbes said.

F1 driver Lewis Hamilton is the top Briton at number 12 with $51m.

Mayweather – one of whose nicknames is Money – saw his sports earnings added to by $10m from endorsements.

“Boxing’s biggest night of 2017 helped Mayweather and McGregor earn nearly $400m combined,” said Kurt Badenhausen, senior editor at Forbes Media.

“But basketball players dominate the top 100 overall thanks to a soaring salary cap triggered by the NBA’s $24bn TV contract.”

He added: “Forbes’ lists of top-earning athletes have long been testosterone heavy. But there has always been at least one female athlete, and as many as three, who qualified since the list was expanded to at least 50 names in 2010. Not this year.”

The top 10

1. Floyd Mayweather – boxing ($285m)

2. Lionel Messi – football ($111m)

3. Cristiano Ronaldo – football ($108m)

4. Conor McGregor – mixed martial arts ($99m)

5. Neymar – football ($90m)

6. LeBron James – basketball ($85,5m)

7. Roger Federer – tennis ($77.2m)

8. Stephen Curry – basketball ($76.9m)

9. Matt Ryan – American football ($67.3m)

10. Matthew Stafford – American football ($59.5m)…