Little-known hot-shots put Ronaldo in World Cup shade

The weekend’s World Cup qualifying matches were graced by some of the top strikers in world football, but a glimpse at the list of top scorers from each confederation reveals a striking lack of big names.

Fernando Torres, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Didier Drogba and Cristiano Ronaldo were all in action on Saturday, but none have come anywhere close to the 12 goals scored by Osea Vakatalesau of Fiji.

Vakatalesau has not even featured in a qualifying match since Fiji’s 2-0 win over Oceania section winners New Zealand in November 2008, but he is not the only confederation top scorer who won’t be appearing in South Africa next summer.

Thailand’s Sarayoot Chaikamdee and Uzbekistan’s Maksim Shatskikh were the deadliest marksmen in the Asian zone with eight goals apiece, but both countries failed to qualify.

Uzkebistan finished bottom of Group One behind Australia, Japan, Bahrain and Qatar in the final round of the Asian campaign, with former Dynamo Kiev player Shatskikh’s last involvement coming in the 4-0 win over Qatar back in March.

Sarayoot, meanwhile, has not played since Thailand’s 3-0 home defeat to Japan in the third round of qualifying in June last year.

Both players were able to fill their boots in the early stages of the qualifying procedure, with Thailand’s 13-2 aggregate victory over Macau and the Uzbeks’ 11-0 demolition of Taiwan going a long way towards explaining how Sarayoot and Shatskikh came to occupy their lofty positions.

Moumoui Dagano of Burkina Faso is the top scorer in Africa with 10 goals, but the 28-year-old’s hopes of participating in next summer’s South African showpiece were dealt a heavy blow when his side were drawn in the same group as all-conquering Ivory Coast.

Luton Shelton of Jamaica and El Salvador’s Rudis Corrales top the scoring charts in the CONCACAF region, but they, too, will not make the finals; Jamaica having fallen by the wayside in the penultimate qualifying round and El Salvador seven points off the play-off spot in the current standings.

Things take on a more familiar feel in South America and Europe, where Brazil’s Luis Fabiano and England’s Wayne Rooney are the sharpest shooters.

Rooney, who has eight goals, is being pushed hard by Spain’s David Villa while Uruguay’s Atletico Madrid striker Diego Forlan is one of nine-goal Luis Fabiano’s nearest rivals.

Elsewhere, though, it is world football’s lesser lights that have seized their moment to shine and in the top scorer’s tables at least, it really is anybody’s game.