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Howard, Klinsmann, Morgan take home inaugural CONCACAF year-end awards

USA manager Jurgen Klinsmann looks at goalkeeper Tim Howard during the press conference

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By DAN KARELL

In addition to a record year that saw U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann and goalkeeper Tim Howard win the Hexagonal with a record amount of points, both of them took home year-end awards from CONCACAF.

In the first-ever CONCACAF awards, Klinsmann was named Coach of the Year, Howard was awarded Goalkeeper of the Year, and U.S. Women’s National Team forward Alex Morgan earned Female Player of the Year, ahead of teammate Abby Wambach. USMNT forward Landon Donovan finished second in the Male Player of the Year award voting behind Mexico’s Oribe Peralta, while Clint Dempsey finished third.

The only other American to finish in the top three for an award was USMNT forward Jozy Altidore, who finished third in Goal of the Year honors for his goal against Honduras on June 18.

Here’s a look at the winners of the inaugural CONCACAF awards:

CONCACAF AWARD WINNERS

Male Player of the Year

Winner: Oribe Peralta – Santos Laguna/Mexico

Second Place: Landon Donovan – LA Galaxy/USA

Third Place: Clint Dempsey – Seattle Sounders/USA

Female Player of the Year

Winner: Alex Morgan – Portland Thorns/USA

Second Place: Abby Wambach – Western NY Flash/USA

Third Place: Shirley Cruz – PSG/Costa Rica

Goalkeeper of the Year

Winner: Tim Howard – Everton/USA

Second Place: Raul GudiƱo – Mexico U-17

Third Place: Keylor Navas – Levante/Spain

Coach of the Year

Winner: Jurgen Klinsmann – USA

Second Place: Miguel Herrera – Club America/Mexico

Third Place: Luis Fernando Suarez – Honduras

Referee of the Year

Winner: Marco Antonio Rodriguez – Mexico

Second Place: Roberto Garcia – Mexico

Third Place: Courtney Campbell – Jamaica

Goal of the Year

Winner: Raul Jimenez – Mexico vs. Panama, Oct. 11, 2013

Second Place: Juan Carlos Garcia – Honduras vs. USA, Feb. 6, 2013

Third Place: Jozy Altidore – USA vs. Honduras, June 18, 2013

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What do you think of these awards? Glad to see Howard, Klinsmann, and Morgan honored?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Haha, can’t believe how many homers voted for Jozy’s goal. Come on guys, let’s be real: that was either the worst or second worst goal nominated. But on the other hand, as far as homer voting goes, we need to coordinate our votes better – we obviously split the vote on MPOY (I’m pretty sure I voted for Jozy).

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  2. Many of these awards make no logical sense.
    Such hijinks involved in anything concacaf or fifa is connected to.
    Concacaf/FIFA = quid pro quo.
    Some Concacaf/FIFA official’s brother-in-law has an awards manufacturing company and they just want to keep the gravy train on the tracks (or pick your own egregiously crooked scenario).

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  3. I assume that half of the folks who an cast votes are Mexcan? No other excuse for these results. Mexico had a terrible year and deserved four Bronx Cheers for their performances as a nation and as individuals.

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    • People from the media and national team coaches and captains voted as well similar to the Ballon D’or, if Peralta won it had to be with the support of other CONCACAF federations.

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      • While Donovan had an amazing Gold Cup, he wasn’t even in most US qualifiers and he had a relatively quiet MLS campaign and no great shakes in CCL. He wasn’t even in the running for MLS MVP. Peralta was massive in Liga MX and also had 5 goals for Mexico. For what it’s worth, he scored 5 more goals than Donovan this year. He doesn’t great goals for others at the same rate as LD, and that’s something to consider. However, his Liga MX goal totals have to impress more than Donovan’s MLS goals because of the relative quality of the two leagues. Getting it done in Mexico is still bigger than getting it done here.

  4. I for one, welcome Spain to the ConCaCaf.

    I am also disappointed that Hernandez, who had the only undefeated record in Concacaf qualifying not get the coach of the year. Could be the fact he only coached two games against a team whose FIFA ranking were below all the other ConCaCaf Hexagonal teams.

    But I an Happy Clint Dempsey finished third in Best Cocacaf Make Player but won the award for Largest Transfer Fee in ConCaCaf this year. Good going Clint~~.

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    • Who is Hernandez?

      Didn’t FC Porto pay 9 mill for Hector Herrera?

      And I think Jozy’s transfer fee was closer to 13 mill? Or is that with added incentives? I don’t quite remember.

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  5. CONCACAF awards I assume club CONCACAF region plays into the awards – especially if the Federation wants their Champions League to mean anything. The fact that Peralta played for Laguna factors in. Ruiz at Fulham means nothing to these awards.

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  6. They are going to have to adjust this voting so its not just US and Mexico in the future. The goals Peralta scored against New Zealand shouldn’t even factor into this. Some one like Bryan Ruiz certainly has to be more deserving then Peralta.

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    • I would imagine the voting was done before Mexico finally qualified for the WC. Peralta was the logical, heavy favorite long before that. He was utterly dominant in Liga MX — best striker in CONCACAF.

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