' Gary Medel ? '

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Regarding Gary Medels football last night and Chile?

Gary Medel watch: 6 things we learned about 'El Pitbul' and Chile after last night's 3-1 win over Australia
Saturday Jun 14th 2014

By Gareth Rogers
Media Wales

Late last night, Cardiff City's Gary Medel was in World Cup action for Chile against Australia. He was captain and played centre back in the 3-1 win

Chile 3-1 Australia

Gary Medel played the entire 90 minutes as captain of Chile last night but he didn't have it all his own way.

Often exposed by the ambitious forward runs of right wing back Mauricio Isla and the powerful heading prowess of former Everton man Tim Cahil, Medel had a busy night in Cuiabá but his exciting team got the comfortable win they wanted in the end.

Here's what we learned from last nights match.




1) Medel had a busy night against Australia

The Aussies targeted his lack of height by trying to get the ball wide and got Tim Cahil jumping 1v1 against him at every opportunity. When his chance came late in the first half, Cahill soared above Medel and took it with aplomb to haul the Socceroos back into the game.



2) Medel will have a lot more defending to do if Isla continues playing that high up the pitch

Australia had oceans of space to attack in down the Chile right from the kick off and as the game wore on, Medel was left with more and more defending to do.



3) Gary is a natural midfielder

Even though he's a defender, the way Chile play sees Medel occupying the same areas of the pitch that he does for Cardiff. The Bluebirds star is the man who hovers around the halfway line when his team have the ball and tends to spark most of the attacks.



4) He's certainly not El Pitbul anymore

Despite one handball which blotted his copybook, Medel is very much a leader in this team.

When all of his incensed team mates mobbed the referee at half time, to discuss a few diecisions he'd made, Medel kept his cool and smiled throughout. He even helped opponent Matthew Leckie to his feet at one point after the pair collided.



5) Spain will be very worried

After their 5-1 hammering against the Dutch, the holders are now very vulnerable.

They'll have to chase the game against Chile at the Maracana on Wednesday night and that will play right into the hands of the South Americans, who will have all the support, especially as the champions have boo boy Diego Costa up front.



6) Medel would not make an effective centre back in the Premier League or Championship

After we all saw his performance against England at Wembley in November and called for Malky Mackay and Ole Gunnar Solskaer to try Medel at centre back.

But last night's struggle against Tim Cahil showed why Medel is too short to play at centre back against teams and players who will be direct.

Half of these have nothing to do with medel!

He's not a CB, we learned that.

Medel played crap. Chile were lucky not to concede three or four in the second half. He is too short for a centre half.

What a shit article ....... he's not even captain

Bravo was captain

Bravo was captain

Correct

I thought he looked lost against England at CB as well. To small and doesn't read the game well enough. As a player I feel he is to reacts to situations rather than seeing them unfold and stopping them.

Played well I thought, his night lets him down at CB though

There were a few on here last season suggesting Medel could perhaps play centre back for us.

I can now see why he didn't .

His lack of height was exposed against Australia , would have cost us even more goals in the premiership had he been tried out at centre back.

I thought he had a decent game.

He'll be more comfortable though when Chile revert back to their usual 3-5-2 formation. They underestimated Australia's attacking ability so were exposed down the flanks quite often, but it'll be a different story against the dutch and Spanish. I can see Chile going quite far with Medel playing a vital role. He's comfortable in possession, a great passer and a tenacious defender, just a shame he was playing alongside shit players with us.

Played well I thought, his night lets him down at CB though

Perhaps he plays better in the day - I'm here all week