CONCACAF released the categories and nominees for its 2014 year-end fan awards series on Thursday, and plenty of faces familiar to MLS are in the running.
Along with all the traditional awards — Player, Coach and Goalkeeper of the Year, to name a few — they also included the following video featuring the 10 best goals scored in by a player representing a CONCACAF nation, or during a competition inside a CONCACAF nation.
It's a pretty solid list of great goals from 2014, which can be seen in full here, but how can you go about picking just one as the Goal of the Year? Perhaps we can help by narrowing it down to the three most worthy candidates.
No. 3 — Jermaine Jones, US national team, vs. Portugal: Not just a great goal hit with a ton of power and swerve, but the fact it came during a vitally important World Cup game gives Jones a slight bump over similiar long-range efforts. (Below videos begin at highlighted goal.)
No. 2 — Marco Fabian, Cruz Azul, vs. Puebla: There's the first touch to settle, which is great. There's the chip — in the 92nd minute, to win it — without much measuring up of the goalkeeper or goal. Then there's the ping off the underside of the crossbar that says, "No 'keeper in the world is touching this."
No. 1 — Esteban Ramirez, Herediano, vs. Saprissa: Off the chest, off the head and a full-volley rocket from 25 yards into the upper-90. How is anyone going to top that?
Vote for the CONCACAF Goal of the Year, here. And as always, feel free to debate amongst yourselves in the comments section below.
