PARIS — The resurgence of mercurial forward Ricardo Quaresma has raised Portugal’s hopes for Euro 2016 even though it is still far from certain whether he will start against Iceland Tuesday.
Quaresma was given a rare start in the final warm-up match against Estonia Wednesday and responded with a virtuoso performance, even overshadowing Cristiano Ronaldo, as Portugal hit seven goals without reply.
There was a “trivela,” a “rabona” and a stunning dinked goal and his exuberance rubbed off on his teammates as Portugal played with a verve that was missing from its qualifying campaign when it ground out seven successive wins by single-goal margins.
Coach Fernando Santos must now decide whether he wants to throw the unpredictable Quaresma into the Euro 2016 fray, which would almost certainly be at the expense of former Manchester United forward Nani.
An attack featuring Quaresma and Ronaldo would make Portugal one of the most entertaining teams in the tournament but Santos, the wily former Greece coach, was making no promises even after the win over Estonia.
“It’s not a case of Quaresma plus 10, it’s Quaresma and another 22. There are 23 players in the squad and all have equal chances of playing but it’s an excellent headache to have,” he said.
Nani, who in complete contrast to Quaresma often suffers from a lack of self-confidence, remained unruffled as his place came under threat.
“I’ve never had a guaranteed place,” he said. “I’m always prepared to fight for my place.”
Portugal will need all the creative talent it can muster in the Group F match in St. Etienne against an Iceland side which is making its debut in a major tournament and is notoriously hard to break down.
Kiraly to set record
Hungary’s Gabor Kiraly, one of the great goalkeeping eccentrics, is poised to become the oldest player to appear at a European Championship in Tuesday’s opening Group F fixture against Austria.
Aged 40 and two months, he will overtake German Lothar Matthaeus’ record, set at Euro 2000.
The balding keeper is universally recognized by his trademark jogging bottoms, first worn to protect his knees from rough surfaces.
Forced one day to change from black ones to grey, he has kept the color ever since as one of numerous superstitions.
Playing against his country’s longstanding rival will revive happy memories for Kiraly, although his mind will have to delve back a long way.
It was 18 years ago that he made his international debut against the Austrians and saved a penalty from Toni Polster after just four minutes.
Despite a three-year gap between 2006-09, he has slowly added to his tally of international appearances, becoming the most capped Hungarian with 103 and seeing off challengers for the jersey with heroic performances in the two playoff victories over Norway.
Meanwhile, he has appeared for three German clubs and five in England before coming full circle and returning to his first Hungarian team, Haladas.
Having finished only third in its qualifying group behind Northern Ireland and Romania, Hungary is one of the countries to have benefited from UEFA’s expansion of the Finals to 24 teams, enabling it to reach a first major tournament since the 1986 World Cup. — Agencies
