World cup 2010: Xavi Hernandez - the Spanish Wizard
Xavi Harnandez, the technician and the visionary, is the one who holds the key for Spanish title hopes. He has all the experience under his belt and a lot of trophies as well. Since his debut he has won everything there is to be won in football, including La Liga, Copa Del Ray, Champions League and Euro Cup. The only thing left in his shining career is the FIFA World Cup, and this time it also seems within his reach.
The highest time in Xavi’s career was winning the Euro Cup with Spanish National sides and being named as the player of the tournament. After that he also carried on with his good form for his club and won an unprecedented treble with the team. In that particular season 2008/2009 Xavi led the Barcelona squad with a remarkable 27 assists and 9 goals. Throughout the season he scored 16 goals and 34 assists. There is no doubt that Xavi was the player who led his team from the midfield and without him these achievements would be impossible.
The next season was a little let down by Xavi, as he had a rough first half but managed to come back in the latter half of the season. He only managed 6 goals and 19 assists during the season, which was good but not good enough for a visionary like Xavi. He also played remarkably well during the World Cup Qualifying campaign and came up with 3 assists in 8 matches.
It is most definitely clear that the whole Spanish team relies on Xavi. He has done it for his club Barcelona and now he has to deliver it for his National Side. Xavi perfectly fits into Barcelona’s style of play, with flawless and sharp passing maneuvers and high possession. This time he has to transfer his skills for his National coach, who wants him to play a perfect role of a holding midfielder. This is what makes Xavi the best in the world in his position. He keeps perfect possession in the midfield by holding the ball and keeping the possession. He is also very good at rotating the ball in the midfield from one flank to another, thus keeping possession and teasing the opposition to the point where they commit mistakes. And above all, at many occasions he looks for perfect passes for the forwards which are then easily converted to goals. Everyone knows that Messi scored a goal in the Champions League final but the beauty of that goal was the perfect ball played by Xavi, which landed right in the middle of two converging defenders, but still a little far from the keeper’s reach. This ability also makes Xavi quite dangerous from corners and set pieces, as his ability to deliver perfect crosses would cut through any defense line.
The only weakness of the player, according to me, is that he is short and does not like to run on the pitch. But, this does not seem to be a problem for Xavi, as he has developed himself into a perfect man for dictating the play from the deep, a quality of a perfect playmaker. His creativity and his composure all help him to deliver his job in a way that is second to no one else.
All these abilities of Xavi would make him the most feared man in this World Cup. I am sure we all remember Zidane and his ability to play. Similarly Xavi is a kind of player who is supposed to turn the match into his directions from the midfield. His passes would find the likes of Torres and Villa in the forward line, which only means devastation for the opposition. If Xavi is able to deliver his A game on the particular days, the Spanish attack would be unstoppable.
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