Carles Puyol: The Brick Wall
Carles Puyol, the Captain of the Spanish Side, is the chief of the defence line as well. He started his club career with a few smaller clubs and joined Barcelona at the age of 16. He developed as a defender in the club, although he started as a goal-keeper, and proved himself for playing for the Barcelona’s B team. He was quickly moved up to the senior squad in 1999, and became a regular in the next season. In 2003, he was made the captain of the side and under his captaincy Barcelona won the league and the Champions League in 2005-2006. Again in the 2008-2009 Season, Puyol and his team won the incredible treble, an unprecedented achievement.
Puyol has also carried on his good form for his National side. He started his international career in 2000 Sydney Olympics and won a silver medal for Spain. Then he made his first team debut the same year, and after that became a regular. He represented Spanish side in the Euro 2004 and 2006 World Cup. The highest moment of Puyol’s career came when he captained his side to a Euro2008 victory. His performance earned him the place in the Dream Team of the Tournament. This player has won everything in his career including league titles, the Champions League and the Euro. The only drive is to achieve victory in the World Cup and that would be force driving him throughout the tournament.
The one thing important about Puyol is his versatility. He began his career as a right back and he often switches to that position if the team requires it; the same thing that he did for Barcelona in Champions League final against Manchester United. He has an ability to make runs and attack from the flanks by putting decent crosses in the box. Due to this he would be useful, especially if some unforeseen happens to Sergio Ramos.
Puyol also has an ability to push from the centre and hence plays the role of a defensive midfielder on certain occasions. Therefore, when the team needs to attack in desperate times, Puyol can play a support role by pushing the centre line and putting more bodies in opposition half. He has also has a decent pace, which makes it possible for the Spanish team to defend at the half line. This would help the Spanish side as this would help them to have an attacking mentality and a fast tempo, throughout the game.
Puyol is a robust player and his work rate is incredible. He is often spotted as making forward runs as well, yet he is strong enough to show full commitment throughout the match. He rarely misses any matches and plays in almost every fixture for his team. On a very rare occasion, he will only miss a match due to injury. Therefore, he is the most reliable person for the manager and due to his influence; he is very well suited for captaincy. And he has done it before, winning a lot for his team, which makes him one of the best to captain the side in the World Cup.
The added advantage to Puyol is that he would be forming a partnership at the back with Garrard Pique, who is also his teammate at Barcelona. Pique is a young kid, who is still inexperienced in such big competitions, although he has done it for Barcelona. The presence of Puyol would also be a support to Pique, who has always looked at Puyol as an idol. The presence of other players like Xavi, Iniesta and Pedro would also make the life easy for the captain on the pitch, because of the club affiliations. There is no doubt that Carles Puyol would be of grave importance to the Spanish coach as his performance would contribute a lot in the winning of the title.
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