Klose leads in Golden Shoe race

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BERLIN, June 28 (UPI) -- Germany's Miroslav Klose, who opened the 2006 World Cup with a two-goal game, owns a one-goal lead in the race for this year's Golden Shoe award.

The Golden Shoe is the trophy given to the player who scores the most goals in a World Cup tournament. Four years ago it went to Brazil's Ronaldo, who scored eight goals, including two in the final against Germany.

The 2002 Golden Shoe runner-up was Klose, who, along with Brazil's Rivaldo, scored five goals in the tournament.

Heading into the tournament quarterfinals, Klose has scored four goals -- two each against Costa Rica and Ecuador. But with three goals in his last two games, Ronaldo has positioned himself to win the Golden Shoe again and no one has won the award more than once.

It won't be easy as five other players also have three goals in this year's World Cup, including Hernan Crespo and Maxi Rodriguez from Argentina and Klose's teammate Lukas Podolski. The other three-goal scorers are David Villa and Fernando Torres from Spain but their team has been eliminated. Another 15 players -- six still playing -- have scored two goals this year.

Ronaldo's latest goal was the 15th of his World Cup career, making him the all-time leader in that category.

"What do I want from now on?" Ronaldo asked. "More, more and more. I want to keep scoring, as I still have much left to give."