The race for the MLS Golden Boot is finally heating up, and several names are battling for the top spot. Even though for the majority of the season it seemed as if David Villa was going to cruise his way to become the league’s top scorer, the Spanish forward has seen a dip in his form in recent weeks. Surprisingly, he’s no longer pacing the league in goals scored.
That honor now belongs to Sebastian Giovinco. The Italian striker from Toronto FC has been on fire the last few weeks, and he’s beginning to rise in the MVP rankings as well. He scored a hat-trick against the New England Revolution last week, including two of the best goals of the year. Giovinco has seven goals and four assists in his last four matches. The uptick on his form is the main reason behind Toronto’s improvement. The Canadian franchise now sits second in the Eastern Conference standings.
With his three goals last week, Giovinco now has 15 goals in 22 matches. He’s slowly returning to the form that won him the MVP Award last year. In 2015, The Atomic Ant registered an impressive 22 goals in 33 matches. He’s on track to pulverize that mark. But is he alone on the race to win the Golden Boot? As you might imagine, no. He isn’t.
First of all, we have David Villa. Even though the Spaniard hasn’t scored since July 24, he still has 13 goals in 23 contests. There’s no doubt he’s the focal point in New York City FC’s attack, and he should find the back of the net again sooner than later. Especially considering he plays with talented wingers such as Jack Harrison and Thomas McNamara, but also with playmakers like Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo.
There’s also Ignacio Piatti, as the Montreal Impact star registers 12 goals in only 20 games. The 31-year-old Argentinian playmaker has surpassed Didier Drogba as the team’s most important player this season, and his numbers reflect that. He is not a striker, but his talent allows him to shoot on target early and often. He’s a sleeper to win the Award, but he would need to go on an impressive scoring streak to make it happen.
Other candidates include Bradley Wright-Phillips (12 goals in 24 matches) and Cyle Larin (11 goals in 21 appearances). Wright-Phillps remains one of the best strikers in the league, he’s been pretty inconsistent and most of the game he’s hit or miss. The Canadian, on the other hand, is dangerous but he doesn’t have a very good team around him.
And we can’t forget about Lampard either. He might be a midfielder, but he’s scored eight goals in only 12 matches so far. He might not have enough time to make a push for the Award, but he could easily end the year as one of the top five scorers. Considering he didn’t play until May, that would be an impressive achievement.
As we can see, Giovinco leads the league but he’s definitively not alone. Will he hang on to win a second straight Golden Boot, or will someone else step his game up? It’s certainly an intriguing thing to analyze as the MLS regular season is heading towards its final third.