It is really easy to overhype players in soccer, especially young, talented forwards who like to beat a man. It’s just so tempting to see a couple highlights, a couple good displays and label them the next great thing. But you know what? That’s exactly what we’re about to do, with a little qualifying.
Jesus “Tecatito” Corona just won the CONCACAF Bright Future Award after helping Mexico win the Gold Cup, and there really is no arguing that he deserved it.
@Scotiabank Bright Future Award No. Jesus Corona #GoldCup2015 #CopaOro2015 @ItsTheJFF @miseleccionmx http://t.co/hAm0FfFWEJ
— CONCACAF (@CONCACAF) July 27, 2015CONCACAF may not be the bastion of talent that CONMEBOL and UEFA are, but Corona still showed he was the brightest star in a generation of youngsters. You can bet that many players, such as the US’s Aaron Johannsson, would have loved to have won this award, but Tecatito put in solid shifts whenever he was called on, had the game winning goal in the final, and, unlike Johannsson contributed to a team that actually won, controversy be damned.
Of course, Corona is still hardly the finished product. This run exemplifies his unrefined qualities as a player.
There is a real argument to be made that he is the only player in all of CONCACAF that can pull off that run, and then he goes an wastes it with a pass that is neither here nor there. The good news is that the kind of composure that allows a player to provide a useable product at the end of a run like that comes with time, and at 22 years old, Corona has plenty of it.
Tecatito plays his club ball for FC Twente in the Dutch Eredivisie, and there he has shown he can produce, scoring 13 goals and adding 5 assists in 33 appearances primarily as a winger. We have heard mutterings of him not getting along with his manager at Twente — mutterings, nothing more — one would hope that, if a poor relationship exists, it doesn’t impede him improving as a player.
It almost goes without saying that Corona needs to get as much playing time as possible in the best league that will allow him to do so. Back in the winter there were rumors that Southampton were interested in him. Such a move would be a fascinating test of his ability, if he is ready to make it. Southampton has been one of the most successfully ambitious teams in the English Premier League over the past few years, a quality that is exactly what Tecatito needs.
Playing for El Tri comes with pressure, it always will. Winning the Bright Future Award is a nice start, but he needs to keep on pushing towards greatness, working under the kind of pressure that is a prerequisite and a accompaniment of success, the kind of pressure that will force him to be the best he can be.
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