2018 World Cup: Lionel Messi Leads Odds to Win the Golden Boot at Tournament

Four years ago, Lionel Messi of Argentina tied Robin van Persie of the Netherlands and Neymar of Brazil for third in the World Cup with four goals, but that total was not good enough to earn the Bronze Boot. Instead, Neymar took home the honor because he had more assists than van Persie and played fewer minutes than Messi.

Regardless, that has not stopped sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark from pegging Messi as the +850 favorite (bet $100 to win $850) on the odds to win the Golden Boot for the first time in his career this summer.

Neymar is listed as the +900 second choice on the betting board, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal at +1200 and Antoine Griezmann of France at +1400. After that, the trio of Harry Kane of England, Timo Werner of Germany and Gabriel Jesus of Brazil are all +1600, with Romelu Lukaku of Belgium rounding out the top eight at +2000.

James Rodriguez of Colombia won the Golden Boot in the 2014 World Cup after finishing with a tournament-best six goals. Thomas Muller of Germany was second with five goals, including the first score in his team's 7-1 semifinal win over Brazil en route to the championship.

Muller was also voted the runner-up for the Golden Ball that went to Messi that year as the MVP. The Argentines lost 1-0 to the Germans in the final.

Rodriquez is a much longer shot at +5000 to repeat as the Golden Boot winner for being the tournament's top goalscorer, something that has never been accomplished in back-to-back World Cups dating back to 1930. Muller is also in the next group of contenders following Lukaku at +2500 along with four others, Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez of Uruguay, Robert Lewandowski of Poland and Sergio Aguero of Argentina.

When handicapping the Golden Boot race, it is obviously a good idea to pick a player you believe will have an opportunity to play deep into the tournament as one of the top contenders on the 2018 World Cup odds. Colombia, Germany, Brazil all made it to the quarterfinal stage of the World Cup in 2014, so Rodriguez, Muller and Neymar each played at least two more games than just the group stage.

Brazil eliminated Colombia 2-1 in the quarterfinals, with Rodriguez tallying his country's lone score for his sixth and final goal.

For more odds information, betting picks and a breakdown of this week's top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast with Jon Campbell and Andrew Avery. Subscribe on iTunes or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.