World Cup 2014 11am Bulletin: Don't rush to Muller's corner

Thomas Muller has a long way to go to earn another Golden Boot

Thomas Muller is now leading scorer at the World Cup, but that only serves to enhance Neymar's appeal...

World Cup day five brought about the tournament's first hat-trick, making a mockery of this writer's tip that there wouldn't be one all summer. Still, at least I have a Costa Rica to qualify bet to dine out on for a few more days at least.

It was Thomas Muller who was responsible for the aforementioned treble in Germany's surprisingly serene 4-0 stroll past Portugal and, as a consequence, the one-time 75.0 shot has been backed in to 5.04/1 to be top goalscorer.

There are obvious trends in his favour: the fact that he already has at least a one-goal lead over his rivals and has proven his ability to deliver throughout a World Cup by winning the Golden Boot in 2010, following in the footsteps of Germany teammate Miroslav Klose in 2006.

However, two things would prevent this punter from trusting the Bayern Munich forward at present. One is that World Cup hat-trick grabbers often peak when receiving their match ball. Seven players netted exactly three times in a game across the previous six World Cups and none finished as top scorer.

Secondly, with the goal flow so frequent, it becomes easier to negate the impact of a hat-trick. Neymar, Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and Karim Benzema are all on two strikes.

Neymar looks the most attractive candidate, especially as his participation is forecast to last seven fixtures, while he has drifted from 4.2 to a more palatable 6.25/1 since the other four enjoyed their multi-goal showings.

There were three other conclusions to draw from Monday's action:

The combination of a heavy Portugal loss and a 2-1 USA win over Ghana gives the Stars and Stripes a decent chance of qualification at 2.0421/20. Goal difference is the tie-breaking mechanism, so a USA draw against Cristiano Ronaldo and co may be enough even if they are defeated by Germany.

Germany's four-goal start - in which Portugal did much of the work for them by gifting them a 12th-minute penalty then having Pepe senselessly sent off before half time - puts them in contention to be top-scoring team at 3.953/1. They fired three goals or more in four encounters at World Cup 2010.

Bosnia - 1.684/6 to progress - will be increasingly confident of adding their name to the mere four sides in 46 to have lost their opener and got through at the last four World Cups despite the setback against Argentina after witnessing Group F foes' Iran and Nigeria play out an uninspiring 0-0 draw.

Today's matches see Belgium face Algeria and Russia meet South Korea in Group H, while Brazil and Mexico clash in Group A. Evan Bartlett has Belgium and Russia down for victories of varying conviction, whereas Lewis Jones is focussing his Brazil v Mexico betting on David Luiz.

Recommended Bet: Back Neymar to be top goalscorer @ 6.25/1

Market Rules

Betfair's Golden Boot market will be settled on the player who scores the most goals throughout the tournament but should there be two or more players scoring the most goals then the winner will be the player deemed to have made the most assists. If players are still equal after goals and assists then the total number of minutes on the pitch will be decisive.

Betfair's separate Top Goalscorer market will be settled on the player who scores the most goals throughout the tournament. Should there be two or more players scoring the most goals then dead-head rules apply.