In fact Antonio Di Natale of Udinese led the league in scoring last season with 28 goals. The best the English Premier League could muster up was Dmitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez as they shared the EPL Golden Boot with just 21 goals each.

These were the top scorers in Italy’s top division last season:

Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 28, Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 26, Samuel Eto’o (Internazionale) 21, Alessandro Matri (Juventus) 20, Marco Di Vaio (Bologna) 19, Giampaolo Pazzini (Internazionale) 17, Francesco Totti (AS Roma) 15, Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan) 14, Robinho (AC Milan) 14, Alexandre Pato (AC Milan) 14, Antonio Floro Flores (Genoa) 13, Andrea Caracciolo (Brescia) 12, Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina) 12, Alexis Sánchez (Udinese) 12, Sergio Pellissier Chievo (Verona) 11, Marco Borriello (AS Roma) 11, Javier Pastore (Palermo) 11, Marek Hamsik (Napoli) 11, Hernanes (Lazio) 11, and Mirko Vucinic (AS Roma) 10.

All of these players hit double figures last season, but the race will realistically be between Eto’o, Di Natale, Pato, Ibrahimovic, and Pazzini.

These are the odds that sportsbook William Hill currently has listed for the Golden Boot winner in the Italian Serie A for the upcoming season. Serie A will kick off on August 28th.

8/1
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
8/1
Samuel Eto’o
9/1
Edinson Cavani
12/1
Alessandro Matri
12/1
Giampaolo Pazzini
12/1
Alexandre Pato
12/1
Antonio Di Natale
16/1
Diego Milito
20/1
Djibril Cisse
20/1
Robinho
20/1
Mirko Vucinic
20/1
Marco Borriello
20/1
Bojan Krkic
25/1
Alberto Gilardino
25/1
Antonio Floro Flores
25/1
Goran Pandev
25/1
Amauri
33/1
Marco Di Vaio
33/1
Adrian Mutu
33/1
Fabio Quagliarella
33/1
Mauro Zarate
33/1
Ezequiel Lavezzi
33/1
Francesco Totti
40/1
Stevan Jovetic
40/1
Jose Eduardo de Almeida
40/1
Miroslav Klose
40/1
Sergio Floccari
40/1
Marek Hamsik
40/1
Pablo Gonzalez
40/1
Emanuele Calaio
40/1
Rodrigo Palacio
50/1
Maxi Lopez
50/1
Alessandro Del Piero
50/1
Antonio Cassano
50/1
Fabrizio Miccoli
50/1
Fabio Borini
50/1
Jonathan Biabiany
66/1
Eder
66/1
Alessio Cerci
66/1
Mauro Boselli
66/1
Vincenzo Iaquinta
66/1
David Di Michele
66/1
Filippo Inzaghi
66/1
Cristian Bertani
66/1
Javier Pastore
66/1
Hernan Crespo
66/1
Graziano Pelle
66/1
Wesley Sneijder
66/1
Milos Krasic
80/1
Simone Tiribocchi
80/1
Davide Moscardelli
80/1
Dejan Stankovic
80/1
Moestafa El Kabir
125/1
Robert Acquafresca
125/1
Christiano Doni

On July 4th, Orlando Silva, who is the nation’s sports minister, held a news conference and stated that the country’s capital city of Brasilia is on schedule with its World Cup preparations and it could even be chosen to host the event’s opening match.

Silva made the positive announcement after he inspected the 70,000-seat Estadio Nacional in the city of Brasilia, which is also known as the Mane Garrincha. The sports minister said that the work on the stadium is about a third of the way finished and it could be a good place to kickoff the 2014 World Cup.

However, Brasilia will likely get some competition from Sao Paulo, which is the nation’s largest city, as it also wants to host the tournament’s opening game. Silva said that Sao Paulo is behind schedule though and things are coming along too slowly.

The municipal government in Sao Paulo recently approved a tax break of $269 million which will see a new 48,000-capacity stadium built for the local Corinthians soccer club in the city’s eastern suburbs. This stadium is also supposed to be used to host games in the World Cup, but FIFA states that stadiums need to hold 65,000 fans for opening World Cup matches.

This has altered original plans and added cost to the new building. In addition, the stadium isn’t supposed to be ready until the end of 2013, which means it won’t be usable for the confederations Cup tournament that year which is regarded as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup.

Brazil has hosted the tournament once before, back in 1950, and is anxious to impress the world again in 2014, but there have been reports out of the country that said it’ll be a race to get some of the stadiums, transportation, and infrastructure ready by the deadlines.

Brasilia said it’s meeting all of FIFA’s guidelines and the city will have all of the technical attributes in place to host the opener. But in the past, Ricardo Teixeira, who is the president of the local organizing committee said he was certain that Sao Paulo would get the honours of the first match.

It’s believed that the final decision will come down to the local organizing committee. But while some internationals are held in Brasilia, the city doesn’t currently have a club in the country’s first soccer division.

Bosnia is entering the game on a downer after being thumped 3-0 in Romania on June 3rd in a qualifier. They have two wins, two draws and a loss in their past five games overall while Albania has a win, two losses and two draws. Neither of these teams is in top form at the moment and if one of them can grab all three points at this stage it will be a huge lift to them. Bosnia was suspended from international football by FIFA for two months and was reinstated just a few days before their loss to Romania.

This will be the second competitive game between the two countries with the first one ending in a 1-1 draw back in October in Tirana on 8 October. Vedad Ibisevic scored for Bosnia with after 21 minutes with Klodian Duro evening the score in first-half injury time. Albania led the group after that game, but were then beaten 2-0 away by Belarus and then returned the favour by beating Belarus 1-0 in March.

Albania and Bosnia have also played two friendlies against each other with Albania winning 2-0 on 1995 and the second being a 0-0 draw in 1996. Their first meeting in 95 was Bosnia and Herzegovina’s first official game as an independent nation.

This is a huge game for both countries as they’re still in with a shout and Euro 2012 could be a possibility for the winners. A draw would hurt their chances as all three points are really needed by each team. This should make it a competitive game, but it could get a little defensive if both squads are afraid to make a mistake. After losing 3-0 to Romania just a few days ago look for Bosnia to rebound and take this game by a goal.

Germany has a seven point lead over second-place Belgium and also has a game in hand. They’d have to collapse totally not to make Euro 2012 and Azerbaijan is already out of it, so this could be a bit of a mismatch or a dull contest at best. The only team that could catch Germany would be Turkey if they won all of their remaining games.

Azerbaijan is managed by former German manager and player Bertie Vogts, who was on the World Cup-winning squad of 1974. Somebody threw a roll of toilet paper at him during a press conference after their loss to Kazakhstan on June 3rd. The 64-year-old has been in charge of the team since 2008, but has just two wins in competitive matches with them. Vogts said he would have left the team a long time ago, but is friends with the country’s federation president. Azerbaijan’s three points in qualifying were earned in a 1-0 win at home against Turkey.

Germany has called under-21 members Lewis Holtby and Sebastian Rudy up to the team as midfielders Simon Rolfes and Sami Khedira are injured. Striker Lukas Podolski should be ready to play as his ankle injury is healed. The Germans will also have to do without several other players as backup keeper Tim Wiese is out along with Sven Bender, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose, Marco Reus, and Christian Trasch.

Azerbaijan has won one and lost four out of their past five games overall while Germany has three wins a draw and a loss. They were beaten 2-1 by Australia in a friendly in March at home and were held to a 101 draw at home by Italy a month earlier.

Germany hammered Azerbaijan 6-1 in their first qualifying encounter and has scored 12 times in three games against them overall. Look for Germany to keep their unbeaten streak alive in Euro 2012 qualifiers as they should be able to beat the hosts by at least two goals.

Undefeated Canada won qualification Group F with a record of three wins and two overtime wins for 13 points. They started the qualification round with a 4-3 penalty-shootout win over the USA and followed it up with a close 3-2 win over Norway. They then edged Sweden 3-2 in their final qualification game.

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Russia had a disappointing preliminary and qualifying round of games and finished in fourth place in Group E with two wins, an overtime loss and two losses. They snuck past Denmark 4-3 in their first qualification game and were then edged by the Czech Republic 3-2. They blew a 2-0 against Finland in the last qualification match and were beaten 3-2 in a shootout.

Canada hasn’t been as strong as their record would indicate as they’ve won a lot of close games and received mediocre goaltending in most of them. John Tavares is leading the tournament in scoring with five goals and four assists for nine points.

Canada v Russia Predictions and odds

If the Russians can keep Tavares off the scoreboard and play up to their potential we should see the Canadians luck finally run out. However, they need to play with intensity and emotion and stay out of the penalty box. It should be a close game with Russia coming out on top by a goal.

US friendly SportsInteraction offers great odds on this game.

Ladbrokes has the odds of a Russian win at 37/20 with a Canadian win even at 1/1. The odds of a draw after 60 minutes are 10/3.

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The USA lost to Canada 4-3 in a penalty shootout in their first game of the qualification round and then edged France 3-2. Switzerland was edged 3-2 by Norway in their first match of the round and then followed that up with a 2-0 loss to Sweden.

Switzerland seems to be running out of steam in the tournament while the Americans are doing just enough to get by. However, the American attack should get a big boost with the addition of James van Riemsdyk from the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL.

Picks / predictions for USA vs Switzerland

Time for some more world cup betting. Things don’t look too good for Switzerland at the moment and this is a must-win game for them if they hope to advance to the playoff round of the tournament.

However, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to get by the Americans with their limited offense. Switzerland are good enough defensively with Tobias Stephan in net. He’s the second best goalie in the tournament at this stage with a save percentage of 94.81 and a goals-against-average of 1.33 and one shutout.

If Stephan is hot the Swiss have a chance, but I think the USA will edge them 2-1.

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The Czech Republic beat host nation Slovakia 3-2 in their first qualifying game while Russia just made it past Denmark 4-3. The Czechs have been the strongest team in the tournament so far wile Russia has been a bit of a disappointment.

The Czech Republic sits on top of the group with nine points from three wins. Russia is in third place with six points from two wins.

Surprisingly for a world tournament, there are no Russian players among the top 10 scorers. This could be seen as a good thing I guess as the scoring’s been spread around, but it also shows nobody’s stepping up and leading the team. However, that could all change now that Alexander Ovechkin has been added to the roster.

Ovechkin came over after his Washington Capitals were eliminated from the NHL playoffs earlier in the week. He’s a natural born leader, so things should improve pretty quickly in the Russian camp.

Patrik Elias and Martin Havlat have been leading the Czechs offensively. Elias has two goals and four assists in four games while Havlat has two goals and three assists. Ondrej Pavelec has been playing superb in net with a goals-against-average of 1.25 and a save percentage of 95.10, good for second place in the tournament so far.

Betting predictions – Czech Rep vs Russia

Ondrej Nemec has been added to the Czech roster and Vasili Koshechkin has joined Ovechkin for Russia.
This should be one of the best games of the tournament. It’s going to be close, but the Russians should finally start to play to their potential with Ovechkin leading them. Russia should take this by one or two goals.

Betsafe has the odds of a Russian win at 2.40 and the same odds for a Czech win at 2.40. The odds of a draw after 60 minutes are 4.20.

Canada sits on top of Group F after beating the sixth-ranked USA 4-3 in a shootout in their first qualification-round match on May 6th. They have seven points while Norway has five points. Norway beat Switzerland 3-2 in their first qualifying game on May 5th. They had leads of 2-0 and 3-1 and were able to hang on for the three points.

Canada couldn’t hold onto their 3-2 third-period lead against the USA and the Americans tied it with less than nine minutes to go. The game probably would have been over long before that if the Canadians could have beaten Ty Conklin in net. The American goalie stopped 49 of 52 Canadian shots. However, he couldn’t keep it up in the shootout as Jordan Eberle and Rick Nash scored for Canada to seal the win.

Norway has been getting excellent production out of Mathis Olimb, Anders Bastiensen, and Per-Age Skroder as they’re all in the top-10 scorers. Olimb leads the tournament with nine, while Bastiensen has seven and Skroder has five. Jeff Skinner and John Tavares have five each for Canada.

This should be an intriguing matchup as Canada is a hockey powerhouse and Norway is playing the best hockey in their history at the moment. Canada added Antoine Vermette of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets to their roster while Norway added Erik Follestad Johansen.

Match predictions of Canada vs Norway

While Norway is playing great hockey, Canada always seems to have a lot of luck in these tournaments and it looks like a Canadian win by two goals.

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France was shutout 1-0 by Switzerland in overtime in their first game and was then thumped 9-1 by Canada. They managed to make the next round by surprising Belarus with a 2-1 overtime win in their last preliminary match. Belarus tied the game with just over four minutes to go, but France scored the winner after 46 seconds of sudden-death overtime.

Sweden lost to Norway 5-4 in a shootout in their opening game. It was their first-ever loss to the Norwegians since they started playing each other 61 years ago. They bounced back in their next game with a 3-0 shutout over Austria and then overpowered the Americans 6-2 in their final preliminary round.
Sweden and France are now placed in Group F for the qualification round with Sweden sitting in second place on four points and France in last place with just one point.

Predictions Sweden v France

Even though this is a young and inexperienced Swedish team it would be a monumental upset if France beat them. Look for the Swedes to pull this game out of the hat by about three goals.

Ladbrokes has the odds of a Sweden win at 1/12 and a French win at 14/1. The odds of a draw after 60 minutes are 10/1 and Bet365 has the odds of a Sweden win by three goals are 16/5.

Belarus were disappointing in the preliminary round as they ended up at the bottom of Group A with just one point from an overtime loss. They were beaten by Canada 4-1 in their opening contest and then dropped another 4-1 decision, this time to Switzerland. They finished the round with a 2-1 overtime loss to France. Belarus tied the game with less than five minutes to go, but lost it after just 46 seconds of sudden-death overtime.

Austria finished dead last in Group C with nom points from three losses. They were outscored 13-1 and seemed to be out of their element. They dropped their opening game 5-1 to the USA and then played their closest game of the round in a 3-0 loss to Sweden. They finished the preliminaries with another shutout loss, 5-0 to Norway.

Predictions

Belarus should have done quite a bit better in the preliminary round with their line-up and will probably take their frustrations out on Austria. This game could be another shutout loss for the Austrians as Belarus should take it by a score of 4-0.

Ladbrokes has the odds of a Belarus win at 9/20 with an Austrian win at 9/2 and a tie after 60 minutes at 15/4.