Ground football: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him

"I came to you to discuss my position," Deng Kai said bluntly. "I know my experience and versatility may not be as good as other players."

"But I know what I can bring to the team, so I need more support."

As long as the conversation didn't turn to anything too extravagant, Quaresma immediately reverted to his older brother persona: "Kai, I know this is your first time being selected for the national youth team. I've been through that phase before."

"But what you need to do is follow the coaching staff's instructions and wait patiently for your opportunity, not... form cliques. That's no different from your performance on the court."

Deng Kai wasn't deterred by Quaresma's official response; he laughed and said, "In fact, the double attacking midfielder tactic liberates both the wingers and the wide attacking midfielders. You should have seen how important Viana is to Ronaldo in the training sessions over the past few days."

"Richard Ronaldo isn't as good as you right now, but his stats these past few days aren't much worse."

"And Viana, his stats are also very good."

"But this liberation won't come to you. Because Meireles isn't a player like Viana; even though he's in the attacking midfield position, he's essentially doing the work of a midfielder."

"He can't deliver threatening passes to you, but he can take advantage of your movement to launch frequent long-range shots."

"I believe that neither the head coach, nor you, nor the club wants to see the current situation."

"A team that can never unleash the full potential of its star player can hardly be considered successful."

"Because such a team can beat average opponents, but cannot beat top opponents."

"Only Subostim can defeat Subostim!"

"And this team only has one superstar... and that's you, Quaresma."

Deng Kai spoke his mind frankly.

His actions were indeed in competition with Mereles.

But he's not just competing with Mereles.

It's not about competing for the sake of competition.

He started by developing the team's strongest offensive capabilities.

This is also what Viorante wanted to see.

If this cannot be achieved, it will not be of much significance even if Portugal U16 goes a little further.

It doesn't mean much to Viorante, nor does it mean much to Quaresma.

These two people are the two most important people on this team.

Their opinions could override those of the vast majority of people.

Viorante wants a spectacular run in the European U16 Championship, a performance that will be thrilling.

Quaresma wanted a performance where professional players dominated youth academy players.

Quaresma is already a well-known star in Portugal, and Viana is far from being able to compare with him in this respect.

Just like Mbappe and Haaland who have joined the U21 team, their needs are clearly more important than the sum of the needs of all the other players on the team.

Quaresma looked at Deng Kai.

He had to admit that Deng Kai was really impressive.

Besides knowing the code words for hiring prostitutes, they can also understand people's hearts.

Quaresmar isn't stupid; how could he not sense that his importance to the team has been declining during training these past few days?

No superstar can accept this kind of neglect.

The team should allocate more resources to him.

This is a privilege that star players should enjoy.

Giving special treatment to people with exceptional abilities and creating opportunities for them has always been a rule of the world.

Absolute fairness has always been just a facade.

However, with Viana on the left wing, he couldn't connect and coordinate with Quaresma enough; he could only rely on Ronaldo to make their mark.

Quaresma needs an engine mounted on the right wing.

I've already tried Merrell, but it didn't work.

Therefore, it can only be Deng Kai.

"What do you want to do?" Quaresma asked.

"Come to our reserve team for tomorrow's training match, and I'll give you a spectacular assist!" Deng Kai revealed his plan.

Quaresma frowned: "Who else? Will Ronaldo and Viana come too?"

Deng Kai shook his head: "Their persuasiveness has diminished since they arrived."

Quaresma exclaimed incredulously, "Just me supporting you? The two of us? The difference in strength between the substitutes and the starters is significant!"

Cristiano Ronaldo, Postiga, Viana, and Meireles are far superior to their substitutes.

The differences in other positions may not be as large, but they still exist.

"What? You think you can't do it?" Deng Kai said. "If you're not okay, I'll have to go find Ronaldo. He's not as good as you, but I'm confident I can help him beat our defense."

Quaresma immediately retorted: "Who says I can't? I'm a first-team player for Sporting Lisbon, carrying you is more than enough! As for Ronaldo... he's still very inexperienced!"

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Quaresma will definitely be playing for the first team in the Portuguese league next season, and may even become a key player.

……

The second day of training matches.

The substitute team defeated the main team 3-5.

We lost.

But they didn't lose many.

The contrast with the previous few days is enormous.

Quaresma completed his hat-trick of goals.

Deng Kai provided him with two assists.

Viorante was very happy after the match.

Because Quaresma was fully activated.

Quaresma is different from Ronaldo; the former has the ability to activate himself, while the latter does not.

Therefore, Ronaldo desperately needs someone to pass him the ball, but Quaresma doesn't.

However... Quaresma can perform even better if someone can pass the ball to him.

That should be his prime.

The problems facing the Portuguese coaching staff are now crystal clear.

The double defensive midfield formation enhances the defense, but Quaresma becomes mediocre. This is because even when Viana is positioned as the sole attacking midfielder in the center, he prefers to move to the left wing to combine with Ronaldo.

Viana is a left-wing player by nature, and he is more suited to playing on the left wing; this is due to his playing habits.

Cristiano Ronaldo is extremely fast and likes to sprint, which can help Viana pull him out of position.

Viana went to the right wing where Quaresma was, so he could only play second fiddle to Quaresma, and subconsciously he wouldn't like this choice.

Option two involves using a double attacking midfielder formation, which enhances attacking power and allows Quaresma to potentially explode at any time.

Deng Kai can completely liberate Quaresma.

So who should we choose?

Did you think the options were two attacking midfielders or two defensive midfielders? Was it Duncan or Meireles?

No.

The real option is to let Quaresma play as an ordinary player or as a superstar.

The answer is clearly the latter.

Because Quaresma is a superstar—at least within the realm of youth players.

He is the star player of the national youth team!

It's a golden brand!

Eighty percent of this team's followers like Quaresma!

He is a well-known rising star in Europe, and his current market value has reached six million euros, which is more than twice the total value of all other players on the team!

It would be unfair to judge Quaresma by only one-eleventh of his potential.

Because what he brought to the team was far more than one-eleventh.

It even reached nine out of eleven!

In this situation, what's wrong with receiving three-elevenths or four-elevenths of the team's resources?

It may still be unfair, but not because he took too much, but because he took too little, because he should have received nine-elevenths!

Ultimately, head coach Viorante made the final decision: a two-attacking-midfielder formation!

Deng Kai is the right attacking midfielder.

Meirelei, defensive midfielder.

Although Meredith was very reluctant, he had no choice but to accept the decision.

Because if he doesn't play, Sporting Lisbon U15's Veloso and Semedo are both very good defensive midfielders, and they are specialized defensive midfielders, making them more suitable for the position than him.

The reason for having Meireles play in this position is largely due to his reputation and overall strength.

Of course, it's not just Meireles; this kind of positional competition and compromise is common throughout the team.

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Pereira lost to Bosingwa and became the team's substitute right-back. But can you say that Bosingwa is definitely better than Pereira? At least in attack, Pereira is actually stronger.

Veloso and Semedo are stronger defensively, but they can only serve as substitutes for Meireles.

Angelo's ability is no less than that of the starting center-back Ricardo Duardi, but the latter is older and more experienced, so Angelo can only play as a substitute.

Cristiano Ronaldo, as Sporting Lisbon's U15 striker, could only play a supporting role to Viana, and had to be assigned the passing button.

Deng Kai is also an attacking midfielder, but he often has to cover for Viana's runs into the box and move wide to fill gaps. His importance in the team is obviously different from Viana's.

Eleven different individuals constantly interact within the team, continuously searching for the boundaries of their mutual adaptation.

Ultimately, they formed a whole.

This is football.

As time went on, the European U-16 Championship... officially kicked off!

Portugal was drawn into the same group as the host Czech Republic, Poland, and Switzerland, and was fortunate to avoid the powerful Netherlands team.

I like playing football on the ground: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him.