Sleeping Dragons

I had a tutor at college he was good a bit past it in years but he was good. He was teaching one day and my classmates were acting like asses as usual and in the ruckus he said something I will never forget and it is something that has kept me up later at night. This is what he said " In life you will have many friends and those friends will have potential and many of those friends will die only having potential," Robert Best. In my series Sleeping Dragons we will encounter men who unfortunately will may very well die without reaching their full potential. I fear that idea so much. I think I have a bit of potential but I ask myself everyday will I ever make it?, do I have the heart for the fight?, or am I just fooling myself? I have friends I can see them easily leaving me in the starting blocks and they are players who are like that, the one who promised so much and delivered so little. Well I must say I do fear for myself and these Sleeping Dragons we are men of promise hopefully we can yield product.




Name: Ricardo Andrade Quaresma Bernardo





Nickname: Cigano







D/O/B: 09/26/1983 (age 25)





Place of Birth: Lisbon, Portugal





Height: 5'8 ft/inches





Position: Midfielder (Right/Left Winger)





Prefered Foot: Right





National Team: Portugal





Caps: 24





Club Teams: Sporting Clube de Portugal (Sporting Lisbon) (2000-03), FC Barcelona (2003-04), Futebol Clube do Porto (FC Porto) (2004-08), Internazionale (2008-present), Chelsea FC (2009) (loan)





What's Wrong Son?: If It Is Not In Portugal Why Bother



You know I have to admit I hate this blog entry don't get me wrong I love all my works from my most thrilling a bit part novel I have been working on coming soon to a store near you to my primary school composition on why I love the Thunder Cats so much. That little cartoon changed my life albeit my life had just started. I hope the guy I am talking about today has an Epiphany like I did and really turn his stuff around. I would hate to know a guy this talented, strong and handsome. Not as handsome as me but if I was a Portuguese woman around ages 16 to 35 I tell you it would be on. Lets get to know our casanova in question and lets see what ails his heart.
Ricardo Andrade Quaresma Bernardo was born on the 26th of September in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon. "Cigano," which I find a bit offensive not going to lie is his nickname. Cigano means Gypsy in Portuguese, well he seems to like it and it is a fraction of peoples recognize on the earth so may be not so racist. What is racy is the youngster's speed a trait that got him into one the biggest clubs in all the world Sporting Lisbon. He was great there but what is worrying is Cigano's inability to perform well outside of Portugal but we will get to that in a second but I have to do some more ass kissing first.What I really love about Ricardo is his crossing ability and for a winger that is key. I know it may sound boring but Quaresma strikes me as an old fashion winger, a textbook one if you will. He hugs the touchline and just to what he must to get pass you. He does do those fancy tricks well and I will use my favourite line and say he has more tircks than the magic circle, he really does. He does not score that often for a man in an advance position which is a minus but when he scores it is something to see. I won't say he is tireless but what he does do well defensively, yes the boy does defend unlike a certain other pretty boy winger, we won't call any names. What Ricardo does that is quite unique not just the defending it is the way he defends, he just doesn't run back widly like most attackers and try to chop the oppositon's foward, he actually kind of stalks the player and then allows a teammate in a kind of mugging the old double team but much more premediated. I have seen him to this a couple of times with great success it could be me trying to see something that isn't there but I have seen it to much times on his part for it to be a flash in the pan thing. Another trait that has served him well is the mastery of the arts known as "trivelas and rabonas." The trivela is a shooting technique that generates a wicked amount of swerve and bend on the ball. This is mostly effective on dead ball situations like free kicks, corners and penalties. The rabona has to be one of my favourites moves it is hard to explain but I will post a video to show what and how it works. Lets just say Quaresma is really good at it. In Portugal is where all his success has come as a player, he owns the Iberian nation. In his homeland he is undoubtly one of the world's best.
Now for the cons and they are a fair bit. Ricardo does not travel well at all. Not like former Arsenal striker Dennis Bergkamp you had a phobia of flying which is a bit funny but Ricky has one of a footballing nature. Ricardo has had moves to big European clubs such as FC Barcelona, Chelsea FC which he was on loaned at in 2009 and Inter Milan where he is currently a member of the squad. He joined Barca from Sporting Lisbon in 2003 and played a fair set of games but he never took off in his first and only year. I remember what one of my favourite football pundits said that Barcelona do not let good young players go which I think is true. Think of the good young players that have pass through Barca's ranks the likes of Carles Puyol, Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez these are just to name a few. So one may argue about the calibre of player Barca recruits and if Quaresma is in that class of player but if he was really that good he would be there to this day. His time at Inter Milan was suppose to be his big come back, his arrival on a bigger European stage. He had found form back in Porugal with Porto and looked ready to at least dazzle Serie A football. His price tag to this date at Inter has not come close to being justified he has been a flop in Italy a mere a cone to be dribbled around and a free tackle, he has just not settled. A loan to Chelsea in the latter half of the 08/09 season saw Quaresma join up with former Portugal coach Luis Felipe Scolari hoping Big Phil could light a fire under him that did not happen. In fact Big Phil couldn't light a fire under any of the Chelsea players and the axe was swung and the Brazilian was off to the unemployment line. This left Ricardo in a bind possibly the only coach in the world who believed in him was off to sunny Brazil, what made it even worse is that Chelsea started to establish a stable first eleven an eleven he was not a part of and new manager Guus Hiddink seemed to fancy the Portuguese. To go along with his travel sickness Quaresma has a terrible work rate. The man is lazy yes he does get back and help out but he tends to not want the ball enought just content to play his part. His thirst for flamboyant tricks can be both annoying and harmful, to many times has he lost possesion of the circle thing the boys are trying to kick in woven strands. His selfishness is sometimes warranted for a playmaker but he can go overboard with his attempted trickery often leading to wasted plays. Internationally I have to withdraw a bit of my punch strength. Ricardo faces direct competition from one Cristiano Ronaldo and if Ricardo has more tricks than the magic circle Ronaldo drew the circle. They both are very similiar in most departments but despite Quaresma being older he is in Ronny's shadow. They both have a similiar style and gait with Ronaldo's a bit more springy but the major difference is end product. Ronaldo is the greatest player on the earth currently who sets up and scores a brothel full of goals while Cigano just plays like he was just in a brothel.
What is needed to to fix the boy, well for one he has to beef up that work rate settling for second best just does not cut it not if he is suppose to be a top man on the park. Ricardo needs to find a team outside of Portugal who will keep picking him week in week out. He is a man who needs to be needed not some guy who comes of the bench to orchestrate some sort of rescue mission. You can see it in his eyes which sounds a bit weird but you can see he wants to be a leader his confidence and spirit is shot, he wants to be the go to guy. What he can do as well is simplify his game. I know being all clever and want not is a huge part of his game but he can do with just playing the game using his speed to his advantage, let the tricks come out in tight spaces and on fast breaks not in slow build up play and moments of possession and oh yeah far way from your own goal. What maybe his major problem is his position in Ronaldo's shadow, he is to good to be stuck in his shadow if anything he should be pushing his countryman to higher heights. I want Quaresma to cement his own legacy with a different tinge to his competitors he is not a carbon copy like present day Nani, he is to good for that.
Wyvern