MIAMI – December is always a good time to look back and reflect on the year that has just passed. North American, Central American, and Caribbean soccer's organizing body CONCACAF took a look at what 2013 had to offer and decided to honor the best. Mexican forward Oribe Peralta and U.S. Alex Morgan both won player of the year in the men's and women's division respectfully.
In other categories U.S. manager Jürgen Klinsmann was without a doubt the manager of the year; but despite the the fact he only managed two official games Mexican manager Miguel Herrera came in second place. Maybe club form is also a criteria; but Herrera got eliminated in the group stage of the CONCACAF Champion's League. But he did win the league championship with Club America last season. Herrera beat out Luis Fernando Suarez.
The bicycle kick goal from Raul Jimenez for Mexico against Panama (which is shown at the bottom) won the goal of the year.
The awards:
Male player of the year: Oribe Peralta (Mexico), Landon Donovan (USA), Clint Dempsey (USA).
Female player of the year: Alex Morgan (USA), Abby Wambach (USA), Shirley Cruz (Costa Rica).
Goalkeeper of the year: Tim Howard (USA), Raul Gudiño (Mexico), Keylor Navas (Costa Rica).
Manager of the year: Jürgan Klinsmann (USA), Miguel Herrera (Mexico), Luis Fernando Suarez (Honduras).
Referee of the year: Marco Rodriguez (Mexico), Roberto Garcia Orozco (Mexico), Courtney Campbell (Jamaica).
Goal of the year: Raul Jimenez vs Panama (Mexico), Juan Garcia vs USA (Honduras), Jozy Altidore vs Honduras (USA).
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