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ByPatrick Johnston,Yahoo! Contributor Network Jun 24, 6:10 pm EDT
There are simply more goals per game scored on average at the Women's World Cup than at the Men's World Cup. That is the way it has been since the Women's World Cup started in 1991. For the women, the number has fallen by about half a goal per game since the 1999 World Cup. However, there have always been more than three goals scored per game. With that statistic in mind, I decided to layout the biggest scoring threats in the 2011 World Cup.
#1 Marta Vieira, forward, Brazil: Marta is the reigning Golden Boot and Golden Ball award winner from the 2007 World Cup. She has scored ten goals in her ten World Cup matches (including seven in the 2007 tournament). There are no flaws in her game which is why she is the top player in the world. Marta has great pace, ball control and tremendous shooting ability. I look for her to add at least five goals to her international account during the World Cup.
#2 Birgit Prinz, forward, Germany: Prinz is the leading goal scorer in the history of the Women's World Cup having scored 14 goals in 22 World Cup matches. Prinz scored five goals in 2007, including the first goal in Germany's 2-0 win over Brazil in the final. Prinz is a physical forward who is very hard to knock off of the ball. With nearly 130 international goals to her credit, Prinz has scored just about every way you can.
#3 Abby Wambach, forward, United States: Wambach scored five goals for Team USA in 2007 World Cup. She is the current active goal scoring leader for the United States. To me, Wambach plays a similar style to Prinz. The only reason to give the advantage to Prinz is that Germany will be playing at home and Wambach has had some injuries since the last World Cup.
#4 Cristiane de Souza, forward, Brazil: Cristiane scored five goals in 2007. She scores at a higher rate than any other player on the list besides Marta. But, as a relative newcomer she is ranked lower than proven goal producers at the World Cup level.
#5 Inka Grings, forward, Germany: Grings should be higher on the list but she hasn't played in a World Cup since 1999 where she scored three goals in four games. However, she does score international goals at a higher rate than Prinz and Wambach.
As as soccer fan who loves to see high scoring matches, I can't wait to see these women open their accounts at this year's World Cup.
More from Patrick Johnston:
Brazil featured in intriguing Group D of World Cup
Germany highlights competitive Group A at World Cup
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