Reuters Soccer Blog

A glance at the stats shows Miroslav Klose has one more chance to equal or better the all-time record for World Cup goals when Germany play the third-place game against Uruguay but the truth is he has a strong claim to be joint top-scorer already.

According to FIFA, the record holder, out on his own, is the Brazilian striker Ronaldo, with 15 goals.

That, I’m afraid, is open to considerable doubt. A close look at the video of one of the goals he “scored” against Costa Rica in 2002 makes a persuasive case for it being an own-goal from Luis Marin.

One can only speculate as to why Ronaldo, at the time the most marketable footballer on the planet, would have been credited with a goal that helped him overtake Gerd Mueller, the West German striker who scored 14.

Klose’s four goals at this tournament so far have brought him level with Mueller — and with Ronaldo, if only FIFA would reconsider.

“I can tell you there is no chance of FIFA changing the way a goal was credited eight years ago,” FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot said at a media briefing on Thursday.

Klose could make it a moot point on Saturday if he bags a couple of goals against Uruguay, or returns in four years’ time to re-open his account, but even if he fails to score it would be hard to argue with him if he described himself as the World Cup’s joint top marksman already.