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Friday, 9 January 2015

Top 5 strikers of 2014

The year 2014 will be remembered as a footballing year, a year in which strange things happened at the world cup where Netherlands demolished the 2010 winners Spain 5 - 1 and Germany ran riot on host Brazil in front of their home fans.
But in spite of these and so many great goals scored within the year, some players distinguished themselves from the rest and gave us a 2014 to remember. Below are the top five strikers who got it right in front of goal last year.

5. WILFRED BONY
This name may appear as a surprise to many on a list such as this, mainly for two reasons first, he plays for Swansea city who are often regarded as a bottom half club in the English premier league and secondly because he is not often associated with quality strikers such as Immobile, Benzema and Tevez. which makes him to go unnoticed.

Bonny who stared his professional career at Issia Wazzi in his native country Cote d Ivoire has been a danger in front of goal right from his early days. Though he was not offered a contract after undergoing a trial at Liverpool Fc in 2007, his goals in the 2009/2010 season helped his club Sparta Prague B win the Gambrinus liga.
His finishing in front of goal led to his signing by Dutch club Vitesse of Arihem in January 2011.
Bony after scoring on his debut for the club went on to finish the season with 12 goals and was tied the tenth highest scorer in the league. He did not disappoint in his second season at the club as he finished the season with 31 goals in 30 matches and was awarded the Golden shoe for the best player in Netherlands.
After a fantastic season in the Netherlands he was snapped up by Swansea Fc for a Wale record of £12 million.
Bony rewarded the club by scoring on his debut in a 4 - 1 loss against Manchester United.
Wilfred Bony began the year 2014 with a brace in a 3 - 2 loss to Manchester city and he dedicated both goals to his friend who died of cancer four days later.
In the weekend of the first week of January, Bony scored a 90th minute header to send Swansea through to the next round of the FA Cup at the expense of Manchester united, a victory which proved to be Swansea's first win at Old Trafford in the clubs history.
On March 25, Bony scored his 20th goal of the 2013/2014 season in a 2-2 draw with Arsenal  at the Emirate stadium. He then ended the season with 25 goals.
It may interest many to know that Wilfried Bony is the only striker with the most goals scored in the English premier league in the 2014 calendar year and also Swansea's all time leading premier league goal-scorer. One distinguishing factor that paved a way for Bony on this list is his ability to find the back of the net against both top clubs and lower clubs.

4. LUIS SUAREZ
Suarez had a mixed 2014, following his outstanding performance with Liverpool with a widely condemned biting scandal at the World cup and then clinched a mega deal to join FC Barcelona making him the third most expensive player in football history.
Many regard him as one of the best strikers in the world and his performance in 2014 was a testimony to that claim.

After an breath taking performance for Liverpool which saw the Anfield outfit finish second to league winners Manchester city, Luis Suarez was awarded the PFA player's player of the year award, becoming the first non eEuropeanto win the award. He also won the FWA footballer of the year. As the premier league top scorer with 31 goals he won the premier league Golden Boot and shared the European Golden shoe with Cristiano Ronaldo for the player with the most goals scored in Europe top leagues.

Suarez achievement in 2014
1. Suarez equalled Andy Cole's premier league record for the earliest date to reach the 20th goal mark.
2. He scored his 6th premier league hat trick and his third of the season in a 6 - 3 win over Cardiff city.
3. He broke Robbie Fowler's club record of 28 goals in a single league season in a 4 - 0 home win against Totteham Hotspur.
4. Suarez became the first Liverpool player to score 30 league goals in a single season since Ian Rush in 1986-87
5. On May 21 2014, Suarez ranked number one on Europe's most influential player "list of the year" ahead of Lionel Messi, Zlatan and Cristiano Ronaldo.

3. DIEGO COSTA
Costa formerly known as Diego in his early days when he played for Braga, Valladolid and Celta Vigo.
Diego Costa is one of the few strikers to have been described by pundits as a player whose main attributes are his physicality, goal scoring and ability to keep possession.

Costa lit up the first part of the year 2014 with Atletico Madrid where his 27goals helped the club win the Spanish league for the first time since 1996 ahead of Barcelona and Real Madrid. And then moved to Chelsea to complete a wondrous year.
It is worthy of noting that in August 2013 Costa was heavily linked with a move to Liverpool who allegedly matched his release clause of 25 million euros and offered to him three times his salary at Atletico. However he chose to stay at the club.
Diego Costa later moved to England to play for Chelsea Fc under the guidance of the "special one" Jose Mourihno for whom he scored 2 goals on his debut in a friendly against Slovene club Olimpija.
After making his competitive debut Costa finished the month of August as the player of the month in just his first month in the league. Diego  Costa went on to score his first hat trick in his fourth game of the season for Chelsea. With seven goals He holds the record for the most goals in his first four premier league matches, surpassing the tally of six by both Sergio Aguero and Micky Quinn.
Costa currently top the English premiership goal scoring chart with 14 goals.

2. LIONEL MESSI
It is no surprise that the little Argentine simply known as Messi is on this list because no list in football is considered complete without his name being mentioned.
Ever since his emergence as a striker or at times a supporting striker Messi has been hitting the back of the net on a regular basis and the year 2014 was no exception.
with a lot already known of the Barcelona number 10, we will simply recount his achievement in the year 2014 goal wise.


. In March 2014, with a hat trick against Real Madrid, Messi became the player with the most hat trick and most goals in the history of the El Clasico.
In October 2014 Messi at age 27 became the youngest player to score 250 goals in La Liga, Later that month he scored his 74th champions league goal to become its all time leading scorer. Messi finished the year 2014 with a single trophy the Spanish Super Cup and also runner up at the 2014 FIFA World cup.

1. CRISTIANO RONALDO

                                   
For the first time since the emergence of the rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo the two can be separated on one scale with Ronaldo out scoring Messi in the year 2014 with 61 goals while Messi managed 58 goals and also beating him to the award of the Best player in the World for the year 2013, an award which he received early in the year 2014.
Cristiano Ronaldo began the year 2014 by scoring his 400th senior career goal for club and country aged 28.
In December 2014, Ronaldo became the fastest player to score 200 goals in La Liga when in his 178th La Liga game he scored a hat trick against Celta Vigo, his 23rd hat trick which was also a La Liga record.
Also in 2014, Ronaldo became the all time top scorer in the UEFA European championship (including qualifying) with 23 goals.
The 2014/2015 La liga season has seen Ronaldo score goals for fun which have helped catapult him to the number one spot on our top 5 strikers in the year 2014.

Are there any more strikers who you feel suppose to be on this list?

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