Gary Medel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gary Medel

Medel playing for Cardiff City
Personal information
Full nameGary Alexis Medel Soto
Date of birth (1987-08-03) 3 August 1987
Place of birthSantiago, Chile
Height1.71 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)[1]
Playing positionDefensive midfielder / Centre back
Club information
Current clubCardiff City
Number8
Youth career
1997–2005Universidad Católica
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2006–2009Universidad Católica70(10)
2009–2011Boca Juniors46(7)
2011–2013Sevilla78(8)
2013–Cardiff City22(0)
National team‡
2007Chile U2015(0)
2008Chile U238(0)
2007–Chile58(5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:56, 6 January 2014 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 6 February 2013
This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Medel and the second or maternal family name is Soto.

Gary Alexis Medel Soto (born 3 August 1987 in Conchalí, Santiago), known as Gary Medel, is a Chilean football player who plays for English Premier League club Cardiff City as a defensive midfielder.

His first name was chosen in honour of the English footballer Gary Lineker. His nickname is "Pitbull" or also "The Chilean Gattuso", due to his aggressiveness on the pitch resembling that of Italian midfielder Gennaro Gattuso. Medel was named Chilean Footballer of the Year in 2008.

Medel was member of the Chile U-20 that finished in third place at the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2007. He has 56 senior caps, and played at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and 2011 Copa América.

Despite being short, he has great jumping and heading skills, this being shown in 2009, in a friendly against Denmark, when he was marking Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner, 25 cm taller than Medel.

He can play in every position in the defence, even as a sweeper, or a right back.

Club career

Universidad Católica

Medel joined the Universidad Católica youth ranks at a very early age. In 2006, he was promoted to the first team and he made his debut in the University derby against Universidad de Chile, where he received his first yellow card.

After a successful participation in the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2007 in Crynant, he became a popular player and was nicknamed "Dwarf" and "Chilean Gattuso" by the media, because of his strong performance and short temper. On 28 July 2007, Medel scored his first goal for Católica against Deportes La Serena in a 3–1 victory. On 26 August 2007, at Estadio Nacional, Medel scored two goals for Católica against his classic rival Universidad de Chile, in a 2–1 victory.

He had a great season in 2008, being a key player for Católica and the national team. On 17 April 2008, he scored his first Copa Libertadores goal against América in a 2–0 victory at San Carlos de Apoquindo. However Católica failed to go through the second stage. Shortly after, he scored again.

Boca Juniors

In July 2009, Boca Juniors signed Medel on a 1 year loan deal, along with Federico Insúa. Medel stated upon his arrival that moving to Boca was "a dream come true. It is a very important club and they have players who I admire a lot, Roman, Palermo and Battaglia, who is my idol and I look forward to playing alongside him." He scored his first goal against Godoy Cruz in a match where he also saw his first red card in Argentinian soil. In March 2010, he scored a brace in the Argentinian Superclásico against fierce rivals River Plate, before being sent off after a brawl with River captain Marcelo Gallardo leading Boca to a very important win in that tournament (2–0), in a time when they were submerged in a sport crisis. After good performances as a Central midfielder, showing his temper (he got sent out several times) and sacrifice, plus prominent featuring in the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa, he was tented by European clubs, but he stated that he was going to stay at the Bombonera for another year, being coached by his (now in 2011) Chile National football team coach Claudio Borghi, who was hired at the time to be the new Boca coach after obtaining the Argentinian championship title with Argentinos Juniors.

Sevilla FC

Medel playing for Sevilla in 2011.

In January 2011, after several months being scouted by Spanish team Sevilla FC. Borghi successor Julio César Falcioni stated that he wanted Medel to stay in Boca for the 2011 campaign, but that he wouldn't jeopardize or interfere in Medel's future, thus approving the move. His debut in Spanish soil was against Real Madrid, in a Copa del Rey 0–2 loss. He only played the last 4 minutes of the match. On 13 February 2011 he made his Liga BBVA debut against Racing de Santander, this time playing the whole match. A month later, Sevilla played against FC Barcelona where Medel made his best performance so far, annulling Lionel Messi and saving Sevilla's goalkeeper Javi Varas a couple of times. The match ended 1–1.

Cardiff City

On 11 August 2013, Cardiff City confirmed that they had signed Medel from Sevilla for a club record £11 million fee on a four-year deal.[2][3] He made his debut for the club on 17 August, in a 2-0 defeat against West Ham United.[4] He made his home debut at the Cardiff City Stadium on 25 August, in a 3-2 win against Manchester City. Medel played all 90 minutes and received the fans man of the match award.[5]

International career

He made his international debut for Chile, in March 2007 in a friendly against Argentina. Later that year, he played a key role on the third place for Chile in the U-20 World Cup held in Canada. However, he didn't play the 3rd place match because he was sent off in the semifinal match against Argentina, when he kicked Gabriel Mercado in the 24th minute. He made his official debut for Chile playing in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification against Bolivia in a 0-2 victory, scoring both goals, the first being an spectacular bicycle kick. Gary played an important role on Chilean qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup, playing as a central defender or right back. He played in the 2010 World Cup, starting in the three group-stage matches, but being suspended for the Round of 16 match against Brazil. In 2011 he played in the Copa América, being sent off in the Quarter-final match against Venezuela, after making an intentional handball. He played a key role in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification, scoring the goal that secured qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, a heading goal against Ecuador.

He is part of a golden generation of Chilean players, along Alexis Sánchez, Arturo Vidal, Mauricio Isla, Marcelo Díaz, Eduardo Vargas, and others.

Honours

Honour Date
Footballer of the year 2008 in CDUC[6] 2008
Star team of year in South America[7] 2009
Best player by points of the group stage in 2010 World Cup (Castrol Index)[8] 2010

References

  1. ↑ La Tercera, page 88, 5 June 2010.
  2. ↑ "Cardiff sign Medel in record deal worth 11m British pounds". 
  3. ↑ Denham, Mark. "The Bluebirds break their transfer record for a third time this summer". Newspaper. Retrieved 10 August 2013. 
  4. ↑ "West Ham 2-0 Cardiff" BBC Sport. 17 August 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  5. ↑ "Cardiff City 3-2 Manchester City". BBC SPORT. 25 August 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2013. .
  6. ↑ Gary Medel fue el mejor del 2008. Fuente: lacatolica.cl Consultado el 14 de enero de 2010.
  7. ↑ http://www.latercera.com/contenido/688_213584_9.shtml
  8. ↑ http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/southafrica2010/statistics/castrolindex/news/newsid=1253883/index.html

External links

Cardiff City F.C. – current squad
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.