Once a devout understudy during his early years to Traianos Dellas, before mixing it up with both Thiago Silva and Alessandro Nesta at AC Milan, Sokratis Papastathopoulos has since become, arguably, the best man-marker in the world. It's not hard to imagine that, had he still been at Milan, Messi and Barcelona would have suffered a stalemate at the Camp Nou instead of qualification the quarters of the Champions League. Likewise, Lewandowski would never have scored four past Madrid had Sokratis been there to stop him. His general demeanor and style is a perplexing one to describe and difficult to pin down, but this is about as good any description you'll probably ever read of him. He looks uneasy, yet he is composed and polite. He's comfortable on the ball, although he tends to get rid of it sooner rather than later. He's shy, but he never shies away from weightier responsibilities. Nor is he one to be surgical in his challenges, and despite being good natured, he prefers to leave his mark on his opponent instead. Put more aptly, he's a zealous defender who leaves his opponents no space or time to even think, let alone act. He's as hard as any opponent can be, yet a fair one. One of his strongest and most easily overlooked qualities is his feel for the game. Just as the other team up the tempo, he knows what buttons to press to wither them down. He knows how to step up when his team lack direction and slump into bottom gear. It was evident against Germany when he got into Ozil's face after cornering him and deliberately bringing him down (Ozil, up until that point, enjoyed an easy go against the Greece defense) and also when he staved off Gomez, who at one point hounded him as he shielded the ball in front of a rather vulnerable Greek net with the competition's then top-scorer breathing right down his neck. All of that was done in the name of alleviating a Greek team that badly struggled against a fierce and, when the game initially set out, uncompromising German team. It was also evident against Lithuania when Greece recently came away one-nil victors away from home, most notably in the second half as the Lithuanians tried to get back into the game. For example, he would burst forward with the ball and win a foul, slowing the game down and frustrating the opposition. Or, for example, when he pulled himself well wide to shore up Greece's left side, which Holebas struggled to protect. He is not without his faults. Two aspects of his game have come under heavy scrutiny. His penchant for undisciplined fouls and his eagerness to verge forward. He tends to get a lot of yellows, largely due to the zealousness and strength of his challenges. He also liked to scurry forward, leaving his fellow defenders exposed. With experience, though, Sokratis has learned to improve those two aspects. Now, he only makes forward forays when the game calls for him to do so. For example, when an excellent counter-attacking opportunity presents itself. It was something he had shown before in a difficult away tie against Ukraine as Greece vied for a berth at the 2010 World Cup in the play-offs. Greece had three center-backs that game, so Sokratis ventured forward in safe knowledge of the cover behind him creating a 4v3 situation, but his effort was cut short by a painful injury near his ribs minutes before being subbed off. Another example has already noted above in reference to that match against Lithuania, when he burst forward to draw the foul and upset Lithuania's tempo. He has also learned to measure his challenges more effectively. These days, he concedes few fouls unless they're deliberately made, i.e., professional. Many of the fouls he has since conceded are mistakenly given by the official. A good example came against Bosnia in Greece's 3-1 loss. The referee called a foul against Sokratis just outside the area, despite having fairly won the ball. That foul resulted in Bosnian's first goal. The foul itself was likely given because the referee felt pressured by the hostility of the home crowd. An even better example came in the opener of the 2012 European Championships. Sokratis had received two phantom yellow cards and was duly booted from the match. The reasoning behind the referee's mistaken calls probably had to do with Sokratis reputation, the pressure of the home crowd, the pressure that came with the importance of the opening match, and what the referee himself ultimately saw (e.g., on the second yellow, the referee saw the Polish attacker fall after some contact with Sokratis, but, in fact, the attacker accidentally slipped). So that reputation is less warranted these days. He's been Greece's most consistent and often best performer en route to the World Cup. He should be awarded Greece's armband. And frankly, all things considered, he's a world class defender inching closer and closer officially to that tag. No one deserves the Greek captaincy more than he does. Below are some oldies, circa 2010. Marking Messi: Against Napoli (he scores in this one):