2015 in Review Episode III: Revenge of the Chich

We continue with our year in review.  And we have saved the best for last.

Player of the year

Chicharito

As 2015 comes to an end, we would be remiss not to acknowledge that one Javier Hernandez has been nothing short of sensational since moving over to the Bundesliga.  Hardly a surprise, to be blunt.  His naysayers, and there are plenty of them, would fall over themselves to be the first in pointing out how ill-suited our Chicharito was for the “big” teams every time he missed a shot for Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Never really understood the argument. Hernandez did plenty to show that he indeed could play, contribute, and flourish with the top teams.  Did he miss?  Of course.  What striker doesn’t miss?  The naysayers would go on to say that Javier needed to go to a less prestigious side, one that was more on par with his level of play.

What he has done at Bayer Leverkusen this season has been nothing less than outstanding.  The Bundesliga side is limited to say the least.  And the fact that they enter the Winter break in 4th place is due to one man — Javier Hernandez.  He has scored more goals since October than Manchester United.

Not their strikers, the entire team.  And with the amount of international duty on his calendar in 2016, he should become Mexico’s all-time scoring leader sometime during the Copa America.

His critics have said all he does is score goals.  I am sure Louis Van Gaal would love to have such a problem player.

 

Goal of the year

There were plenty of superlative goals that we could place here on soccerchronicle. I could have picked Paul Aguilar’s stunner in the Rose Bowl, Or any of the great Liga MX goals that breeched the nets.  Nope.  One goal stands out to me, even though it was in a losing effort.  Defender Diego Cortes’ individual effort in the 4-2 loss to Nigeria in the U17 semi-final gets my vote.

It would not be Mexican Football if the year wasn’t crazy.  Even by those standards, this year was borderline bizarro.  We wouldn’t have it any other way.

Stay tuned for a 2016 tea leaf reading.

And don’t forget to tune in to our weekly podcast, Los Cachirules, that airs Wednesdays at 10:00 pm ET / 7:00 pm PT.  Live shows begin again on January 6, 2016.

Have a happy new year.

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