Mueller claims golden boot, young player accolade

Rising star Thomas Mueller has finished South Africa 2010 as the tournament’s top-scorer after golden boot rivals David Villa and Wesley Sneijder both failed to score in Sunday’s final.

The 20-year-old Mueller scored his fifth World Cup goal in Germany’s 3-2 win over Uruguay on Saturday in the third place play-off.

Sunday, FIFA also additionally named him as the best young player of the tournament.

Mueller claims the World Cup’s golden boot ahead of super-stars such as Holland’s Sneijder, Spain’s Villa and Uruguay’s Diego Forlan, who finished with five goals each, by virtue of his three assists in the tournament.

Both Villa and Sneijder failed to score in Sunday’s final at Soccer City as Spain’s Andres Iniesta hit the 116th-minute winner to break Oranje hearts.

The result leaves Bayern Munich’s Mueller to follow in the footsteps of Germany team-mate Miroslav Klose, who won the award four years ago, to claim the tournament’s golden boot for the most goals.

Ironically, while Spain were winning the final, Mueller and the Germany team were jetting back to Europe.

Mueller saw off Mexico’s Giovani Dos Santos and Ghana’s Andre Ayew for the best young player award.

The German took the tournament by storm after scoring in Germany’s opening 4-0 win over Australia, then showed devastating finishing for both of his two second-half goals to seal Sunday’s 4-1 rout of England in the Round of 16.

And he proved that was no fluke by scoring the first goal in Germany’s 4-0 quarter-final win over Argentina, although a yellow card against Diego Maradona’s side saw him miss the semi-final defeat to Spain.

It has been an extraordinary season for the youngster who only turns 21 on September 13.

Plucked from Bayern’s reserves by coach Louis van Gaal, Mueller started his first Bundesliga game last August, played in May’s Champions League final and now finishes his first full senior season with the World Cup’s golden boot.

He played in all of Bayern’s 34 Bundesliga matches, scoring 13 goals, on the way to the domestic double and made his debut for Germany against Argentina in a friendly last March.

He promises to be a star of the future and has cemented his place in the Germany team.