The Expert: Quaresma to the rescue after Portugal’s wobble

“Scoring lots of goals is the best medicine,” said the headline on Sunday morning’s edition of O Jogo ahead of Portugal’s meeting with Latvia, and the numbers have already become the bottom line, just four games into the European champions’ qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup.  

For Fernando Santos’ team, the unforgiving nature of the qualifiers - in stark contrast to the path to get to Euro 2016 - means that they can ill afford any more slips after crashing back down to earth after the glory of victory at Saint-Denis with a comprehensive loss in Switzerland in the campaign’s opener. With eyes already turned to the final match of qualifying, when the Swiss visit Portugal for the return in October 2017, the task is clear. It could easily come down to goal difference so don’t just win, but rack up as many goals as possible in doing so.

It’s an interesting parallel to Cristiano Ronaldo’s own path, as he contemplates the possibility of picking up a fourth Ballon d’Or, a competition which has become increasingly about monstrous, extraordinary personal statistics during the age in which he and Lionel Messi have dominated the world game. Ronaldo’s brace saw him hit another milestone, equalling Gerd Müller and Robbie Keane’s shared international goals record of 68. The Portugal skipper now only trails the Hungarian pair of Ferenc Puskas (84) and Sandor Kocsis (75), plus Miroslav Klose (71). 

With that said, he was also complicit in the moments in which Portugal almost - improbably - let the game slip through their fingers. The home side’s dominance of the match was unremitting, as they had 67% of possession and 27 shots to Latvia’s six, with the visitors committing 23 fouls to Portugal’s seven as they struggled to hang on. Yet after the eight minutes between Ronaldo crashing his second penalty kick of the match against a post and Arturs Zjuzins striking home an immaculate, surprise equaliser, it looked as if Santos’ team might have put the cart before the horse, assuming victory before it was sealed.  

For Ronaldo, the hiccup was symptomatic of a recent problem, with the missed penalty being the fourth time he has failed to score for Portugal in his last six attempts from the spot, not including penalty shootouts. “He is a goalscoring machine,” wrote Manuel Queiroz in Monday’s O Jogo, “but he’s not a penalty scoring machine.” 

It was a further indicator, after a European Championship full of them, that while the skipper remains very important to his country, he is no longer the man who can simply pick the team up and carry them on his shoulders. He should have never had to do so, of course.  

The 4-4-2 formation set up to serve Ronaldo is still there though, with the imperative of scoring goals in the forefront of Portuguese minds, the emphasis is more on attack. Santos has made clear that he sees João Cancelo - who scored three times in his first three senior appearances - as a right-back rather than a right-sided midfielder/forward, despite Valencia’s use of him in an advanced position at club level. Yet this is indicative of Portugal’s current vision as much as anything else, with Cancelo and Raphaël Guerreiro needing no encouragement to push on.  

This means taking risks, of course, as Zjuzins’ equaliser, which came from a delivery from the Portuguese left, underlined. They’ve been here before in recent history, with the precarious situation facing Santos’ predecessor Paulo Bento when he took charge forcing an ultra-attacking, caution-to-the-wind approach. Bento’s Portugal scored 37 times in his first 13 games in charge.    

The switch of emphasis is bound to create uncertainty, though the variety of tools available to the coach helps. It was a plan B that swung the match back in Portugal’s favour here, with Ricardo Quaresma - as in France this summer - making his presence felt and creating unmissable chances for William Carvalho and Ronaldo to net Portugal’s second and third goals, respectively. 

“Quaresma tipped the balance and made the difference,” said Latvia’s coach Marians Pahars after the match. It is simply what he does under Santos. Since the former Greece coach took the helm in October 2014, the 33-year-old winger has been his most reliable supplier of chances, providing nine assists in that time. João Mário (6) and André Gomes (4) are the next best.   

It was a continuation of Quaresma’s excellent form at club level throughout the season so far. He has especially shone for Besiktas in the Champions League, where he has notched two goals and two assists in his four appearances to date. He has also provided two key passes per match, and drawn an average of 3.3 fouls per game.  

With Quaresma enjoying an Indian summer in his career, he promises to remain of great importance to his country. Those delicious deliveries from the right will be ideal for Ronaldo as he continues his metamorphosis into a straight-up number nine. For all the changes that Portuguese football has undergone in Santos’ reign, wingers continue to be a big part of the mix. 

With the next qualifier, in March, pitting Portugal against Hungary once again after the thrills and spills of their meeting in this summer’s Euros, plenty more entertainment should follow. Portugal’s nerves, generally habitual in their qualifying campaigns, are great news for the neutral.