Brian Pitter

Tue, 23 Jun 2020

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With the world of football returning to some semblance of normalcy, we decided to assess how well the region’s players have been doing this season.

CONCACAF has been a major contributor to the development of many European clubs over the years and this season in particular, we have seen many of these players performing well at the highest level.

Here are the Power Rankings for CONCACAF players for the current season 2019/2020:

10. Kemar Lawrence

The Jamaican international has had a fantastic five seasons at New York Red Bulls and he was a main-stay in their starting XI since he signed back in 2015. With consistently good performances, both at the club and international levels, he earned a move to Belgian giant, R.S.C Anderlecht, and has since been acclimatizing himself to the new environment. At 27-years-old, Lawrence has the potential to cement his name on the team sheet on a weekly basis and possibly secure a move to a team in one of Europe’s top five leagues before he hangs up his boots.

9. Hirving Lozano

Though Hirving Lozano has so far not lived up to the hype of his big money move to Serie A giants Napoli, the Mexican international has been one of the top CONCACAF players in Europe over the past few years. At just 24 years of age, Lozano took the world by storm during his time with Dutch powerhouse PSV, scoring almost 50 goals in just two seasons. The little winger, or ‘Chucky’ as he is popularly nicknamed, is still one of the most promising prospects in football but will need to regain back the form that brought him such massive recognition if he is to fulfill his potential.

8. Tyler Adams

The American International plies his trade in the Bundesliga with RB Leipzig, a young team that has taken the league by storm this season. The midfielder has garnered massive attention during this campaign, simply down to his scintillating performances in what is a very attacking Leipzig team.  Young, gifted and extremely talented, the 21-year-old has a very bright future ahead of him.

7. Carlos Vela

The Mexican international has been around the game for quite some time now. Since leaving Arsenal in 2012, an experience which he described as an awful one, many believed that his career would have taken a turn for the worst. However, having signed with LAFC in 2018, the 31-year-old has had somewhat of a resurgence. Last season, Vela broke the MLS record for the most goals in a single campaign, finishing the season with 34 goals and 15 assists. It was arguably one of the single greatest individual campaigns in MLS history.

6. Keylor Navas

The proud winner of three consecutive Champions League titles with Real Madrid, Navas is still one of the best goalkeepers in world football. Having moved to Paris-Saint Germain in 2019, the Costa Rican international has added another title to his list, winning the French Ligue 1 with PSG when it was announced the league would be discontinued early in May due to the coronavirus pandemic. At 33, Navas is approaching the tail-end of his career and would no doubt wish to lead his country to another World Cup Finals tournament before he retires. 

5. Giovanni Reyna

Son of the USMNT legend Claudio Reyna, Giovanni has risen to become one of Europe’s most promising prospects in football. The Borussia Dortmund attacker is currently enjoying regular first team action both in domestic and European competitions. He also became the youngest ever goal scorer in the DFB Pokal Cup competition, the German knockout. At just 17, Reyna has the potential to become one of the best. With Dortmund being a team that has produced so many exceptional players over the years, being in that setup will certainly bode well for the development of his career. 

4. Leon Bailey

The 22-year-old Leon Bailey needs no introduction, the Jamaican international has taken the German Bundesliga by storm since his arrival in 2017 and has even been nominated for the Golden Boy Award during his short career so far. His performance this season has been hampered by injuries but he has still managed to get 7 goals and 3 assists in 27 appearances in all competitions. Bailey’s ascension to the top of the game has been swift but it is clear that his talent can be developed further if he is exposed to the right coaching. Whether he stays at Leverkusen for another season or finally gets his move to the Premier League it is clear that Bailey is intent on becoming one of the best players in Europe. 

3. Christian Pulisic

When Christian Pulisic signed for Chelsea last year for a reported fee of $73 million from Borussia Dortmund, many pundits questioned whether Chelsea had taken a huge gamble on a player that wasn’t even a consistent member of BVB’s starting XI. Even though he has had an injury riddled campaign, the United States player has announced himself as a player that can perform in the Premier League once he adapts, when the 21-year-old scored his first career hattrick against Burnley in October. It is expected that Pulisic will be a part of Chelsea’s rebuilding plans, becoming a mainstay in the Blues’ first team. Pulisic is easily the best player for the US Men’s National Team and has recently been named captain for his country. There is no doubt that ‘Captain America’ will get even better.

2. Raul Jimenez

Jimenez’s career took off a bit later than most of his contemporaries, however, the Mexican striker has been one of the most rounded attackers in the English Premier League since his arrival at Wolverhampton Wanderers, earning him links with English football giant Manchester United. In 2018/2019, he scored 13 goals and recorded 7 assists in 38 appearances, this season, he has already matched that goal scoring tally with 8 games remaining. In all competitions, he has registered a whopping 22 goals in 44 appearances while contributing 10 assists. At 29, Jiminez is just starting to put up the numbers Europe’s biggest clubs knew he was capable of, numbers befitting a world class striker.

1. Alphonso Davies

Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies celebrates scoring Munich’s fourth goal during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt in Munich, Germany, Saturday, May 23, 2020. (Andreas Gebert/pool via AP)

The rise of Canada’s Alphonso Davies has been nothing short of an inspirational story. Born in a refugee camp in Ghana and subsequently raised in Canada, Davies has made it from complete despair to becoming one of the most promising players in European football. Having cemented his place in the Bayern Munich team at left-back, the 19-year-old has put on some unforgettable displays this season, most notably in the UEFA Champions League. He is so quick that his teammate Thomas Mueller has nicknamed him the “Road Runner”. This has all come after a positional shift from being an out-and-out winger to a full back, a move the player has said he was skeptical about at first. His stamina to move and down the left side of the pitch with equal energy makes him a special piece of Bayern’s puzzle this season. It is still unclear how high of a ceiling Davies has but one thing is for sure, his exploits so far for club and country has earned him a place on Canadian football’s Mount Rushmore. 

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