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Goal looks at the best and worst from men's soccer in the region this year including Mexico's Gold Cup stars and Honduras' roller-coaster season

• FREDERIC J. BROWN
  

  Best Player – Raul Jimenez, Mexico

  What a year for Raul Jimenez. He scored eight goals for Mexico, including five during the Gold Cup when he helped lead El Tri to the regional title.

  With his club, he's been unstoppable as well, helping Wolves push into the knockout stages of the Europa League and also playing a big role in upsets over teams like Manchester City.

  With eight goals in Premier League play, Jimenez sits just outside the top 10 in the Premier League. Combine his nine Europa League goals, though, and you'll begin to understand why he was the most important Concacaf player in Europe this season and is Mexico's No. 9 for the foreseeable future.

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• Frederic J. Brown
  

  Coach of the Year – Marc Collat, Haiti

  Marc Collat's Haiti ended the year on a bitter note, getting relegated from its Concacaf Nations League group. Yet, you have to understand the challenges with which Collat is working.

  Haiti wasn't able to play its second set of CNL matches at home because of political turmoil in the country, and already the manager is pulling players from all over the globe.

  Now, the path back to the Gold Cup involves extra qualification. So why is Collat the Coach of the Year? Because in this year's Gold Cup, Haiti was the story of the tournament, getting into the semifinals and pushing eventual champion Mexico to extra time.

  They did it thanks to strong game plans from Collat and a collective mentality the coach instituted despite cultural and language barriers few other teams have to overcome.

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  Breakout Star – Charly Rodriguez, Mexico

  Carlos Rodriguez already is such a fixture with the Mexico national team that it's difficult to remember that his debut came in this calendar year. With Hector Herrera out of a March friendly, Rodriguez stepped into the void and didn't look at all out of place in a 3-1 win against Chile.

  His showings with Monterrey also have been quality, with the 22-year-old midfielder impressing during the Club World Cup and eventually lifting the Liga MX title with Rayados.

  Now, he's being asked questions about heading to Europe, something that would only help him become a bigger star in the region.

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• Getty
  

  Future star flying under the radar – Jonathan David, Canada

  Jonathan David was the Golden Boot winner at this summer's Gold Cup with six goals in four matches.

  He scored a dozen goals with Gent last year, a mark he's set to surpass with nine already this season. Oh, and he's 19. Why are we not talking more about this guy?

  Sure, the Gold Cup goal tally was run up thanks to a hat-trick against a hapless Cuba, but as Canada pushes to make the World Cup in 2022 before hosting four years later, we're going to be seeing David have plenty of success against more formidable teams in the very near future.

United's latest signing has been confirmed as the new owner of the iconic shirt, so GOAL looks at some of the others to have worn it over the years

Manchester United, of course, have had some truly iconic players wear the famed No.7 shirt, including the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, George Best, and Bryan Robson. There have also been some major flops, namely Michael Owen and Alexis Sanchez, and new signing Mason Mount will be hopeful he eventually falls into the first category having been handed the iconic jersey following his £60-million move from Chelsea.

The England international has plenty of experience behind him having become a regular contributor both at Stamford Bridge and for the Three Lions – but how will he deal with the weight of expectation that comes with wearing United's most legendary number?

GOAL takes a look at the history of the No.7 shirt at Old Trafford and how others have coped with it…

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  George Best

  An icon on and off the pitch, Best remains the only Northern Irishman to win the Ballon d'Or having finished as United's top scorer for six consecutive seasons before leaving in 1974.

  He helped the Red Devils win two league titles as well as the European Cup in 1968, with his goal in the final contributing to a 4-1 victory over Benfica.

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  Bryan Robson

  'Captain Marvel' was voted United's greatest ever player in a poll of their former players back in 2011, and for his all-action midfield displays it was easy to see why.

  Playing 461 times for the Red Devils, Robson scored 99 goals and became their first English captain to lift the FA Cup as well as helping to secure Premier League and Cup Winners' Cup triumphs.

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  Keith Gillespie

  Part of the United side that won the FA Youth Cup in 1992, Gillespie followed in his fellow countryman Best's shoes and was handed the No.7 shirt by Sir Alex Ferguson.

  He failed to fully establish himself at Old Trafford, however, with Andrei Kanchelskis keeping him out of the team for long periods before he was eventually sold to Newcastle in 1995.

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  Eric Cantona

  When permanent squad numbers were introduced to English football in the 1993-94 season, there was only really one option for United to hand their No.7 to – 'King Eric'.

  Signed from Leeds United in 1992, Cantona terrorised opposition defences for five years at Old Trafford, scoring outrageous goals for fun as Ferguson's side began to dominate the English game.

  He will likely always be remembered for his infamous kung-fu kick at Selhurst Park, but his playing legacy will never be forgotten on the red side of Manchester.

A pair of teenagers and a trio of New York Red Bulls headline Goal's selections as the best values, based on salary, in Major League Soccer

Salaries in Major League Soccer continue to rise, and have seen a considerable spike since the infusion of targeted allocation money in the past two seasons. That has led to a near doubling of the number of million-dollar salaries in the league, and a sizable jump in the number of players making more than $500,000.

That doesn't mean there still aren't some super-sized bargains to be had. Players signed via homegrown player deals and those who enter the league via the MLS draft continue to give MLS teams a steady stream of bargains, several of which make up the squad chosen by Goal to be part of the MLS Bargain XI, the best values in the league.

Here is the 2018 MLS Bargain XI, with salaries based on guaranteed compensation as released by the MLS players union last week .

• Greg Bartram
  

  GK Alex Bono, Toronto FC, $102,200

  The 24-year-old goalkeeper is in the midst of his second full season as Toronto FC's starter and is continuing to show improvement, building on his MLS Cup-winning 2017 season. His exploits in TFC's CONCACAF Champions League run turned heads, and he has also broken into the U.S. national team picture. Still playing on his rookie contract, Bono should be securing a new contract soon, assuming he doesn't head to Europe via transfer.

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• RB Julian Gressel, Atlanta United, $111,250

  A midfielder who has thrived this season since being moved into a right wing-back role, Gressel has carried over the success from his MLS Rookie of the Year award-winning 2017 into the 2018 season. He has been one of the key reasons Tata Martino has seen his team enjoy such success playing in a 3-5-2 formation. The 24-year-old German-born standout should be drawing attention from scouts and will have a strong case for a new contract this winter.

• Mark J. Rebilas
  

  CB Tim Parker, New York Red Bulls, $115,935

  How is Parker so underpaid? He's still playing on his original rookie contract, which expires at the end of this season. He is in line for a big payday this winter, either in Europe or in a new MLS deal. The Vancouver Whitecaps traded him rather than making him one of the league's highest-paid defenders. Since joining the Red Bulls, Parker has been outstanding and has helped his new team forge the best defense in club history.

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• CB Aaron Long, New York Red Bulls $73,125

  A repeat selection on the MLS Bargain XI, Long has followed up his breakout 2017 season with a strong start to 2018. His skill on the ball, coupled with an improving defensive skill set, make him one of the league's most underrated defenders. It shouldn't be long before the 25-year-old central defender secures a new contract with the Red Bulls.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former Tottenham captain Gary Mabbutt has backed his old side to overcome the challenge of Dinamo Zagreb before securing a positive result against Arsenal in the north London derby.

Jose Mourinho’s side take on the Croatian outfit in the first leg of their last-16 Europa League tie then follow that up with a trip to the Emirates to face their rivals in a big week for the club.

And Mabbutt, who rates the squad Mourinho has at disposal very highly, is confident they can pick up some good results.

Discussing the upcoming fixtures in an exclusive interview with FFC, Mabbutt said:

“Don’t even look at the form book at the moment.

“I would look at his players and the group of players and the way those players are playing as individuals and as a team, the confidence within the squad, the camaraderie within the squad, and I think we have all of those. So, you know, I’d be going into these games with confidence that we can get two positive results.”

Indeed, the north London club have certainly been performing of late after a difficult period, with Gareth Bale being one player who has really stepped up during this resurgence.

The Welshman was on fire in that recent 4-1 victory against Crystal Palace, managing to grab two goals for himself. And he was joined by a usual suspect in Harry Kane, who was also able to find the back of the net on two occasions.

If both players can carry this sort of form into the games against Dinamo Zagreb and Arsenal, then there is a good chance that Mourinho will get the results he wants from these two important fixtures.

Tottenham Hotspur will be looking to bounce back from mid-week embarrassment when they head to the south coast to face Brighton in the Premier League this evening.

And Jose Mourinho has plenty to ponder as his side have slipped to sixth place, some four points adrift of the top four.

Despite deploying three centre-backs and two wing-backs against Liverpool only three nights ago, Spurs still leaked three goals to a side that had failed to score in four straight league outings.

Something must be done defensively, and one decision could be to take away Matt Doherty’s place in the starting XI…

On the Chalkboard

The summer arrival started at left wing-back before reverting back to his natural right-sided position during the second half against The Reds but he still endured a nightmare evening against the defending champions.

And Mourinho let him know about it as he was playing on the side of the dugout in each half.

According to journalist Julien Laurens on ESPN FC, the Spurs boss was “roasting him the whole game.” He added: “Mourinho had a go at Matt Doherty pretty much from minute one to minute 90. He had him in his ear all the time because he made mistakes because he was not very good.”

Indeed, the 29-year-old’s performance was far from pretty, which is why he must be facing the axe tonight.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-this-weeks-latest-spurs-news-and-transfer-rumours” title= Read this week’s latest Spurs news, transfer rumours and more…”]

As per SofaScore ratings, the Irishman graded as Spurs’ worst player (6.1).

In 90 minutes of action, he lost possession 17 times from 55 touches, meaning he handed the ball back to the Reds once every five minutes. It also meant that, on average, he lost the ball once every 3.2 touches.

Sloppy and wasteful returns.

In addition to that, Doherty was hugely lightweight against the tricky exploits of Saido Mane, Mo Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson as all four received better ratings whilst the Spurs defender managed to win just one of his five duels (20%) on top of committing two fouls and being dribbled past twice, via SofaScore.

No other Tottenham player managed more fouls, so clearly he was a bit of liability and this cannot be risked tonight as the north Londoners need to get back on track against a side battling against relegation.

The right wing-back, valued at €40m (£36m), must be dropped.

Mourinho’s constant berating of the calamitous defender on Thursday night is surely enough to see either Serge Aurier or Japhet Tanganga utilised instead.

AND in other news, Levy must sanction Spurs move for £45m “warrior”, he offers something Ndombele doesn’t…

With Jose Mourinho having transformed Eric Dier into a fully-fledged centre-half under his leadership at Tottenham Hotspur, the Spurs boss now faces the difficult task of building the defence around the England international.

Given the lack of depth, it’s no wonder Dier is one of the first names on the team sheet, having made 27 appearances across all competitions this season, that being the best of all centre-backs and ninth overall, a list topped by none other than Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

It would be remiss to ignore his importance to this Spurs side, which is precisely why Jermaine Jenas has praised his “sensational” impact in his new role for the Lilywhites.

Toby Alderweireld has been the man Mourinho has usually trusted enough to start alongside the 27-year-old at the heart of Spurs’ defence, but in Inter Milan defender Milan Skriniar, Daniel Levy could land Dier’s ideal long-term partner.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport’s print edition, as relayed by SempreInter, Milan have named a €60m (£51m) for the centre-back, and the Italian outlet reports Mourinho’s side will have to offer far more than their initial €35m bid last year.

The fact that Inter are apparently unwilling to accept anything less than €60m for one of their key men could prove to be a stumbling block for Spurs, however, as the club reportedly finds itself in financial disarray after borrowing a large sum from the Bank of England.

All we know is, the 6 foot 1 in central defensive colossus has certainly got the ability and profile to form a formidable partnership at the back with Dier, with Skriniar ticking every box.

Mourinho isn’t short of centre-halves but has still rotated Alderweireld, Davinson Sanchez, Joe Rodon and Japhet Tanganga alongside the softly-spoken Dier with a mixed bag of results.

The latter two are seen as two for the future having impressed when called upon, but the same can’t be said for Sanchez, who has struggled to make much of an impression due to a string of high-profile errors.

Having someone at the back with the kind of leadership Skriniar brings could be exactly what Mourinho needs. His former coaches insist the “talented” player has “always been the leader on and off the pitch.”

By the numbers, the Serbian, who at 26 is one year younger than Dier, has been in impressive form for Antonio Conte’s side, averaging 1.5 tackles and 2.7 clearances per game, via WhoScored. For context, even Dier could only manage 0.7 tackles per 90 in the Premier League this season, as per WhoScored.

While it remains to be seen where the £45m-rated colossus will be plying his trade next term, whoever secures his signature will be very happy indeed, for he’s evidently a player with bags of talent.

Daniel Levy, therefore, must do all he can to bring him to north London before it’s too late. He can’t let lightning strike twice.

AND in other news, Tottenham Hotspur star stole the show in vital Europa League win…

Anwar El Ghazi was a notable absentee from the Aston Villa team sheet for the match against Wolves and Dean Smith has provided an update on the player.

The latest on El Ghazi

Smith confirmed that El Ghazi is out with an infected toe picked up against Sheffield United, with the manager saying: “He came back after the game and had a bruise which got infected. He wasn’t able to get a boot on. He’s a big loss.”

This is a big blow for Villa

It has been a remarkable turnaround for El Ghazi, who has scored six goals in his 16 Premier League appearances so far this season (Transfermarkt). This is already two more than he managed the whole of last season over 34 games.

He received great praise from former Villa defender Alan Hutton, who said: “I’ve played with him and played against him. In training, he can be unstoppable.”

El Ghazi has also been a great attacking threat and has been a handful for defences, with an average of 2.1 shots, 1.1 key passes and 1.4 successful dribbles per game this season (WhoScored). He clearly was missed in the 0-0 draw against Wolves as many Villa supporters slated the performance of his replacement Trezeguet.

Hopefully the injury is not a lengthy one, especially during a particularly good campaign for the player, as he provides a much better threat than Trezeguet (who has failed to score in his 18 appearances this term) and he could be vital for a top half finish in 2020/21.

In other Villa news, some fans have been piling praise on one star at the club following his latest comments. Have a read who it is here!

Many Sheffield Wednesday fans have flooded to a tweet by Dom Howson following the loss in the Championship to Millwall on Saturday.

Massimo Luongo was missing from the squad from the match and he provided an update on why this was the case.

The journalist tweeted: ‘Neil Thompson on Massimo Luongo’s absence’ and linked the post to an article in which manager Neil Thompson explained that the player had ‘tweaked his thigh on Thursday in training.’

Thompson provided more information as he said: ‘Hopefully it is not too bad. We will have to reassess him this week and see where he goes with that.’

Luongo already missed nine games when he was out for 41 days earlier this season (Transfermarkt) and this latest update has seen many Owls fans grow frustrated at the player. One fan said ‘He’s made of glass’.

The 28-year-old Australian midfielder has managed twelve appearances in the division this season (two of these from the bench). His stats from these games emphasise that he has a key defensive influence. He has managed 2.4 tackles, 1.3 interceptions and 1.3 clearances a game this campaign (WhoScored). These stats show that he loves to get stuck in and this is exactly what the Owls need in a relegation battle, so it is understandable to see fans frustrated by his injuries.

Here is what they said following the update:

“Aka almen abdi”

Credit: @vaughan_22

“Constantly injured but it doesn’t matter because he once played a load of games for QPR”

Credit: @stevenowls

“He’s made of glass”

Credit: @stevie1953

“Stop making excuses for everything”

Credit: @Ian83845067

“Get rid waste of space”

Credit: @LeeThom73693642

“More importantly, what about the teams absence in the second half???”

Credit: @SteveFoshFisher

In other news, fans were discussing midfielder Izzy Brown. Have a read why here!

Former Aston Villa defender Alan Hutton has been praising Anwar El Ghazi for his recent performances at the Midlands club through the December period.

What Hutton had to say about El Ghazi

Speaking to Football Insider, Hutton said: “I’ve played with him and played against him. In training, he can be unstoppable. In games, I’m watching him thinking, do that, take them on, go forward. You’re urging him to do it because you know he can do it.

There’s been question marks hanging over him for a while now, he’s been getting a bit of stick from fans. But I think he showed what kind of character he is in the Wolves game when he stepped up for the penalty. That’s where it’s turned for him. He’s definitely a confidence player. He’s the type of guy that sometimes needs the arm around him, and that’s just his personality, that’s the way he is.

In his recent form, he’s been absolutely outstanding. I hope he keeps with it because there’s no reason he can’t. He’s got five in five, he’s playing in a strong team, they’re attacking, they’re going forward, and they are playing to his strengths. So I think he can keep it up as long as he wants to.”

The winger has turned things around at Villa

It has been a remarkable turnaround for El Ghazi, who has scored five goals in his eight Premier League appearances so far this season (Transfermarkt). These goals have come in his last six games and before the first of these in December, the attacker hadn’t scored in the division since January 12th 2020.

El Ghazi has been a great attacking threat and has been a handful for defences as he has managed an average of three shots, 1.3 key passes and 1.9 successful dribbles per game (WhoScored).

It truly is magnificent to see how much a goal can help a player’s form and confidence, and it is understandable to see why Hutton praises El Ghazi’s play so much following his recent run of form.

In other news, two defenders could leave Aston Villa in 2021, find out more here!

Sheffield Wednesday are among the teams chasing a loan move for Jarrad Branthwaite this month, according to reports…

What’s the word?

The Owls are said to be one of several Championship sides lining up a temporary spell for the promising Everton centre-back, as per the ECHO.

The 18-year-old is thought to be open to the idea of a short stint away from his parent club to gain some valuable first-team minutes under his belt after a frustrating campaign.

League rivals Blackburn Rovers are the only other side mentioned in the report.

Shades of Michael Hector

With the Toffees teen down the pecking order, behind the likes of Michael Keane, Yerry Mina, Mason Holgate and Ben Godfrey, a move to Hillsborough Stadium would certainly prove beneficial.

In recent weeks, Wednesday have suffered injuries to their backline, notably Chey Dunkley and Julian Borner, whilst last season’s Player of the Year, Dominic Iorfa, has been ruled out for the entire season.

The Owls have even lost central defensive loanee Aden Flint back to parent club Cardiff City, so there is a need for additions at the back.

Since his debut last season, Branthwaite has been restricted to a total of only five senior appearances and requires game time, and Wednesday know all too well how loans like this can turn out as Michael Hector was a massive hit in south Yorkshire only two seasons ago.

Many fans wanted his return after a successful loan spell from Chelsea, though he went on to sign for Fulham for £8m.

And the two bear some similarities – both are at least 6 foot 4 inches in height and have pacey attributes despite their towering presence.

Indeed, Branthwaite has been dubbed one of the fastest players at Goodison Park (Sky Sports, via the News and Star) whilst Hector was lauded for his speed by the Premier League’s official website after transforming Fulham’s backline.

The teenager’s former manager at Carlisle has previously waxed lyrical over his potential, claiming: “The truth is, I think he has got everything. He can pass the ball almost equally as good with both feet. He’s a terrific footballer.”

Considering he’s only on a reported £15k-per-week, he could fit into the Owls’ wage bill nicely as Flint was thought to be on the same amount and he’s no longer at the club.

Dejphon Chansiri must swoop for Branthwaite before one of their rivals get to him this month.

AND in other news, How Sheffield Wednesday could look under managerial front-runner Paul Cook…