I doubt it. Those guys have a general admiration for each other. They came up together. Put that theory away my friend.
You and anybody have to be freaking kidding me. First, I followed this kid when he joined the Academy at SCP, and I loved him then, and continue to do so. Even at the start in his first pre-season, I remember telling my kids, and nephews that this kid was going to be something special, and that he was going to be way better then Quaresma (not that Quaresma is bad). Now IMO a captain is someone different, Figo didn't become captain almost till the end of his NT career. Theirs a lot of pressure of being captain, and maybe it hurts him on the field, with trying to do way too much. He does score a lot for the NT, but he's not getting the team involved on his runs. If you watch the games carefully he does try to do too much, something he doesn't do at MU. So pay close attention, and watch that he needs to be better at knowing when to release the ball.
Your absolutely right one fault CR or Quaresma don't have is jealousy. Remember CR when Quaresma was capped I think against the Saudi's, he did everything to get Quaresma involved in the game, That was pure class on CR's part. Quaresma is just feeling the pressure of wearing the NT shirt way too much. The boy needs to take a chill pill, and strut his stuff like he knows. We can go into the family support, and all that other stuff behind the scenes, but let's not go there.
I have been following Quaresma when he played for the U21 to now. There's is no doubt that he is an exceptional player for Porto. Om the U21 he used to take the ball down the wing and cross into an empty box over and over and over and over and over and over again. It was sickening. For the NT - he tries the fancy foot moves to get by the opposition - but he is no C Ronaldo or Rui Costa or Figo or for that matter Simao - he sucks at it. And I'm getting tired of seeing him do that every game and lose the ball. Beautiful - he gave a great cross for Makukula - I think Nani given the same situation would be able to do the same - even Simao. How many more chances do yuo want him to receive at proving himself? As many as Pauleta? As many as Nuno Gomes? If you want them out - then I suggest we follow the same set of standards for Quaresma. Simao has been a workhorse for the NT - and yes he may have an off day here and there - but other than that he is consistant. As to your outlining the victories with him on board - give Nani that same position and I'm sure you'll have equal results. And by the way - the other victories Portugal has had came to be because Simao was in the lineup - get my point.
Finally after reading this ridiculous thread someone writes something worth reading. Good players don't deserve to be captains. Players with leadership qualities should be captains. Jorge Costa is a captain, Sa Pinto is a captain. A captain is a player who Wears his heart on his sleeve and gives his everything every game. I think that person should be Carvalho. My other complaint about reading these forums... Portuguese fans have to be some of the most ignorant fans around, I read in a previous post Quaresma isn't NT material??? Why because he didn't play well against Kazakstan and Azerbaijan?? How about the game against Liverpool? or Beiktas(sp). What about most games he plays for Porto?? Plenty of players play like shit against bad opponents. I remember Nani had a horrible U-21 tournament and everyone was saying his career was finished. Man U paid too much money. He needed time to adjust at Porto also give it time. Also Last game Hugo Almeida score Hallelujah we have a new striker, next game he doesn't score , Makukula scores Hallelujah we have yet another striker!!! Superstar strikers. Guys we played Kazakstan and Azerbaijan wait a few games before we ask for Makukula to start from now on. Even Postiga has good games once in a while. We used to complain that Pauleta only scored against these types of teams... Wait until we play against real opposition. By the way I'm not new to the forum I lost my password and wasn't able to get it back.
Wow...this thread is spiraling out of control...keep in mind we are all suppose to be on the same team
I may not agree totally with it. Ronaldo makes $$$. Ronaldo gets the chiquitas. Ronaldo is on the front page of almost every newspaper. Ronaldo plays for a top team in Europe. Now tell me what Quaresma has that Ronaldo doesn't. That is the problem with Quaresma - he should be a little more mature and play his game - forget about the stupid trick plays and play the game - drive the team to victory. If he is a true NT material player - then I expect him to play for the NT - not for the flash bulbs and highlight reels.
But Quaresma gets all the same thing man. Quaresma makes $$$ Every women in Portugal wants Quaresma, hell my own mother and aunt Quaresma is on numerous tabloid not only in Portugal but abroad as well. Quaresma also plays for one of the top teams in Europe.
As to the captain thing... Wehn I coached... I did not pick the captain based on being the superstar. The captain was the person who showed leadership. He/she was the one who congratulated the players on good plays and confronted the players on bad plays. He/she was the one who in the locker room - stood up and voiced his opinion with constructive criticism. He/she was the one with a relative amount of experience. He/she was the one who commanded the players on the field. He/she was someone most of the team respected (didn't say all the team). Funny thing my captains were mostly center halfs or defense. I always picked three captains - and they rotated. Towards the end of the season , they actually rotated amongst themselves to decide who would be captains. In my honest opinion - C Ronaldo does not have the leadership qualities to be a captain - but then again neither did Pauleta and he was captain. A Carvalho - an Andrade - a Petit - a Ricardo - at this time those would be my choices for captain.
I have no problem with C. Ron being the captain, however if it was my choice I would give it to Carvalho or Ricardo. Let C. Ron focus only on his game and nothing else.
Your kidding...how many goals did he gift wrap for Almeida? Even the U-21 coach said Quaresma was to big for U-21. Guess he has forgotten since the Brazil and Belgium Games. Didn't he play so Poorly that he lost his job to Ronaldo in euro 2004...didn't he play so poorly during WCQ that we needed to bring back and OLD Figo? Please Simao...is overrated. I wish I could find the article I read recently. An article that quoted Ronaldo as saying that the biggest asset that Quaresma brings to this team is that people can't just concentrate on me. Because at any moment Quaresma can change the game as with Kaz even when hes having and off day. It never dawned on me how much more space Ronaldo seems to have when Quaresma is on the field. Also, if you look at the two games. Quaresma plays much better in the second half when he plays on the right side...his natural position. Lets analyze that... Simao...7 starts 2 victories 1 loss 4 draws Nani.....2 starts 1 Victories 1 draw Quaresma...3 starts 3 victories I wont include Brazil just so it look closer.
The biggest problem with Quaresma is he needs a coaches support. He not like Ronaldo he doesn't handle adversity well. Look how Ronaldo handled the Rooney situation he became the player of the year. Ronaldo uses adversity to motivate him. Quaresma still has a lot of maturing to do when it comes to that. I wish Arsenal would sign him...Wenger would do wonders for him.
Are you sure you followed Quaresma on the U-21? not just the 2006 tournement where he was injured and still played, and was dejected at not being included in the world cup like manuel fernandes? in the QF campaign where Portugal was the onyl team to go undefeated, quaresma was our star. And even in the campaign before that in the 2004 Euro, both quaresma and ronaldo was on the team, and Quaresma was regarded as the best player on the team( which included bosingwa, bruno alves, tiago, viana, carlos martins, postiga, ronaldo etc) Heres the English Media even praising him and 3 of our other players..which reminds me..shame about Viana being ruined. Anyone else remember the talent he was at Sporting? IMHO as big a talent as Ronaldo/Quaresma etc. http://www.thefa.com/England/U21s/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2003/09/65135.htm . He can play in either central midfield, or on the right, as well as in attack, as he demonstrated last March when producing a scintillating performance for his country in their 4-2 defeat of England in a U-21 European Championship qualifier. He also found the net in the game and was named man-of-the-match. And Simao is consistant for the ntl team? Since when? Since when he lost his place to a immature ronaldo during the euro? since scolari had to beg Figo out of retirement in world cup QF since Simao was having horrible performances? I'd rather have Nani then him right now. Simao is better off the bench, where he ahd his best performance ever coming on vs england in 04. Every time as a starter he fails to deliver..remember vs angola wherehe was the worst player on the field? vs germany in the 3rd place match..what did he do? on the contrary off the bench vs holland he was very good in a COUNTER ATTACKING role. Thats when we can use him best like vs Mexico when Simao was good in hitting them on the rush, yet once we started dominated the game he dissapeared once more.. I really liked the amssive impact he ahd vs France as well..a game in which we controlled. Besides his freekick vs serbia what did he do that match? NOTHING where was he when we needed him vs poland when QUARESMA CAME ON AND GAVE US WHAT WAS TO BE THE WINNING GOAL before a frango. Quaresma started when we got our best results( wins vs belgium and vs the tough minnows away), simple as that. Simao started in our most embaressing performances( loss to poland and tie to poland, ties to serbia X2, tie to Armenia) As mentioned by other posters, Murtosa handled Quaresma perfectly, the last 25 minutes when he was given a string of faith, he responded well and played very good, almost setup another goal, and didnt fail one dribble after. Scolari would have ruined him by tasking him off, much like after Quaresma gave a simply amazing performance vs Belgium( which was our best performance in this QF campaign) he benched him vs Serbia for Simao. what ,message does that send a player? and what did simao do that game? Simao is hardly consistant, yet has played so so so so many games..him being a regular starter has affect on our results..he didnt start in the euro or the world..and when he did start it was our worst performances in both those tournements. not to mention our shameful qualification campaign where we can thank the minnows for taking points away from finland serbia and poland or else wed be out of the running. Coincedences?!
i was talking about you having a vandetta against him, not Quaresma the player. PassItOn, you say he hogs onto the ball but so do all dribbling wingers abit, Figo did, Nani does, Quaresma does, George Best did, Simao doesn't because hes use to been captain at Benfica. but i seen in these games when he was captain he was releasing the ball more and starting alot of the attacks for the team with his runs which opens up space, playing more mature. Figo wasn't a natural captain, neither was Pauleta, he didn't shout at players, he talked to players but mainly he led by example on and off the pitch. Ronaldo has qualities to be a great captain, hes a natural winner, hes respected by the players and referees, he is a inspirational figure who can inspire a team by doing what he does. the days of captains shouting at players like Keane has gone, so if you want that sort of captain i'm afraid you won't find one in Portugals players, even Carvalho doesn't shout at players, he defenders really well and tackles well but that doesn't make a great captain. just because players are older doesn't mean they know better or have more experiance, hes 22 but has already played over 50 times for Portugal and over 200 games for Man.Utd Scolari also said he has 2/3 leaders, so why does it matter who has the captain's armband? why can't Carvalho, Petit, Deco, Ricardo ect lead anyway? i think you are hating on Ronaldo for no reason, he hasn't done wrong so far, hes played well, so why don't you just wish the kid well? it's not that important whos captain like the above says.
We should maintain the same staring line up for the next qualifer and give some players the same opportunities as players like Nuno Gomes and Simao, who shit game after shit game still make it. Give players like quaresma the same confidence that they do with simao, if he doesnt perform then they can change. Atleast give Quaresma, Veloso, Almeida and Makukula an extended run in the starting line up. Then we can judge them before the Euro 2008. Instead of giving them 1 game of 60 minutes and if they dont do well there benched while others play bad for 3-5 games and still start.
btw id prefer to see Carvalho as captain. Not that Ronaldo has done anything wrong but just that i think Carvalho has alot of experiance and you see the calming affect he had on the defense.
I agree. I cant think of the last time Quaresma got 2 starts in a row with the NT apart from the Belgium Brasil friendly....
but he can still do that anyway without been captain, i think it benefits Ronaldo more to wear the armband, he then has a sense of importance for the team and wants to help the team more so it will help him mature.
I think some people here are being unfair...probably Simão doesn't have the same ability of Quaresma to change a game in one play but he's certainly way more consistent. Also, who's idiot enough to compare games that Simão started vs Quaresma?...azerbaijan and kazakhstan...yeah, and we all saw how he performed against those world class teams. Quaresma can be a great player if he gets used to the pressure and stop being so selfish. He's not mature enough to start in the nt, it's quite noticeable and it's not one good dribble and assist that it's going to change everything (and i'm including the freaking game vs Belgium!...it just isn't enough for a player of his caliber, too many chances lost)
as if its one players fault. I come on here now and then and sometimes what i read is shocking... As if most of you guys on here could play half as well as these guys... Like holy hell be proud of the players we have on our team stop hatin on them... Yes they have had some shit games.. but hey everyone does.. I do agree sometimes our lineup is rough but its still loaded with talent.. Quaresma is damn good.. so is ronaldo, simao, petit, miguel, almeida, nani, deco, gomes, etc..... I find it funny that you all seem to blame one player in specific per game... How many people are on a field? Go watch compilations of some of our players on youtube.. Then try to tell me Quaresma can't dribble
how many bad performences from Simao and Nuno Gomes and Tiago cost us points and yet they still get the opportunity to redeem themselves. All i want is that opportunity afforded to others like Quaresma and Almeida. If they dont perform then we can make our decision but to give one set of players endless opportunities when they perform badly and others dont it does nothing for the players and for portugal. Its better to get an idea now and not when the euro starts.
I agree with Quaresma playing more... I think having him and Ronaldo and with nani as an attackin mid starting with almeida and then putting in makakula (how much of a threat was he!) in the second half I liked that setup.. Then you have Simao playing up and Maniche who can score from range... ITs a very dangerous attacking squad that leaves most of the world envious