Vedad Ibišević and the golden shoe: how far can he go?

It might sound like the name of some twisted fairy tale, but we’re almost halfway through the season and it’s pretty clear that Vedad Ibišević’s success is not a fluke. Yes, he plays for a team that’s just looking to score one more than its opponent, and no, he hasn’t dribbled past entire defenses to score. That said, when you average more than a goal-per-game 18 games into one of the world’s top leagues; when you score for both club and country; and when you do it against everyone from Arminia Bielfield to Bayern Munchen… well, there’s more to it than mere luck.

Far be it for me to count the chickens before they hatch, but I think it’s now safe to say that Ibišević is the heavy favorite for the Bundesliga scoring title. His nearest competitor, Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrick Helmes, is 6 goals behind at 12, and many of those came at the beginning of the year. Wolfsburg’s Grafite managed to claw up to 11, but he’s been injured for a month. If we assume that they continue their form into the second half of the season, Helmes and Grafite seem on pace for 24 – just 6 more than what Ibišević has right now. Even if he doesn’t do quite as well as he’s done so far, Vedad would have to drastically under perform to not surpass that mark.

But I’m greedy, and I want to see Ibišević as more than just the top scorer in the Bundesliga. After all, Barbarez already did that a few years ago. What I want to see is Ibišević taking home the golden shoe as the top club scorer in Europe. Since Darko Pančev’s exploits for Red Star Belgrade, no post-break-up Yugoslav has come close to winning the title: not Šuker, not Kežman and not even Ibrahimović. But Ibišević, on pace for the magic 30 in one of Europe’s top 5 leagues, is undoubtedly one of the favorites right now. If he avoids injuries and maintains his form, there’s currently only one man standing in his way.

^ — Asshole

So maybe I’m a little unfair to Marc Janko. In fact, I know I am. After all, he’s had a magic season so far for Red Bull Salzburg. But you know what? I’m very biased and don’t particularly care. The fact that Janko might end up wresting the golden shoe from Ibišević’s hand drives me crazy, and for a very simple reason: he plays in Austria.

If Samuel Eto’o or David Villa edged out Ibišević in La Liga, I could understand that. Sure, I wouldn’t like Eto’o or Villa for it, but they’re proven players playing in one of the toughest competitions in Europe; I’d just have to accept it and cope. But Janko getting 1.5 points every time he scores in the Austrian bundesliga? That’s a different story altogether.

For the life of me, I can’t understand why that sorry league still has a 1.5 coefficient. That little number puts it on the same page as the Dutch Eredivisie or the Portuguese championship, which is ludicrous. Red Bull Salzburg might be halfway decent, but the rest of the league is a joke, and it’s against these other teams that Janko scores a hat trick every other match. I mean, Samir Muratović, our Bosnian midfielder, supposedly just came 2nd behind Janko for Austrian footballer of the year. No offense to Muratović, but any league where he’s a superstar is simply a notch below the European average. Janko’s 30 goals are certainly very impressive, but the fact that they’re given 45 points compared to Ibišević’s 34 is flat out absurd. In terms of quality, the Austrian league is somewhere around Croatia or Poland at the moment; applying the same coefficient they have (i.e. 1) would give us Janko at 30 and Ibišević at 34 – much fairer.

Here’s hoping that Janko completes a successful move during the January transfer window while Ibišević stays put.