"I came to you to talk about my position." Deng Kai got straight to the point, "I know that my qualifications 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 there is no talk of debauchery, Quaresma immediately resumes his big brother manner: "Kay, I know this is your first time being selected for the national youth team. I have also been through this stage of your life."
"But what you have to do is obey the arrangements of the coaching staff and wait for opportunities, rather than... forming cliques. This is tantamount to your performance on the court."
Deng Kai was not blocked by Quaresma's official reply. He smiled and said: "In fact, the double attacking midfielder tactic is a kind of liberation for the winger and the wide attacking midfielder. You should have also seen the training in the past few days.
The importance of Yana to Ronaldo."
"Cristiano Ronaldo is not as good as you at this stage, but his data these days are not much worse than yours."
"And Viana, his statistics are also very good."
"But this kind of liberation cannot fall on you. Because Meireles is not a player like Viana. Even if he is in the attacking midfielder position, he is still essentially a midfielder."
"He can't send you a threatening pass, but he can use your involvement to make frequent long-range shots."
"I believe that neither the head coach nor you, nor the club, want to see the current situation."
"A team that has been unable to play the core threat of its strongest star can hardly be called a success."
"Because such a team can beat average opponents, but cannot beat top opponents."
"Only Subostar can defeat Supotim!"
"And there is only one superstar in this team...and that's you, Quaresma."
Deng Kai expressed his feelings directly.
His actions are indeed in competition with Meireles.
But he's not just competing against Meireles.
Nor is it competition for the sake of competition.
He started by developing the team's strongest offensive power.
This is what Violante wants to see.
If this cannot be achieved, even if Portugal U16 can go a little further, it will not mean much.
It doesn't mean much to Violante, and it doesn't mean much to Quaresma either.
And these two people are the two most important people on this team.
The opinions of these two people can overwhelm the opinions of the vast majority of people.
What Violante wants is a beautiful trip to the European Junior Championships, and she wants to play well.
What Quaresma wants is the crushing performance of professional players against youth players.
Quaresma is already a well-known Portuguese star, and Viana is far from being able to compare with him in this regard.
Just like Mbappe and Haaland who entered the U21, the importance of their needs obviously exceeds the sum of the needs of other players in the team.
Quaresma looked at Deng Kai.
He had to admit that Deng Kai was really awesome.
In addition to knowing the code words to find a lady, he also understands people's hearts.
Quaresma is not stupid. Why can't he feel that his importance to the team is declining during training these days?
No superstar can accept this kind of neglect.
The team should give him resources.
This is the privilege that stars should enjoy.
Giving special treatment to people with special abilities and creating opportunities for them has always been the law of this world.
Absolute fairness is always just a pretense.
But Viana is on the left, and he cannot make enough connections and cooperation with Quaresma. He can only achieve mutual success with Ronaldo.
Quaresma needs an engine mounted on the right side.
I've tried the Meirelles brand, but it doesn't work.
So it can only be Deng Kai.
"What do you want to do?" Quaresma asked.
"Tomorrow's training match, you come to our substitute team, I will give you a beautiful assist!" Deng Kai said his plan.
Quaresma frowned: "Who else? Will Cristiano Ronaldo and Viana come too?"
Deng Kai shook his head: "After they come, they won't be convincing enough."
Quaresma was in disbelief: "Am I the only one to cooperate with you? The two of us? The strength gap between the substitute camp and the main camp is not small!"
Cristiano Ronaldo, Postiga, Viana, Meireles, these players are more than one level higher than their substitutes?
The gap in other positions may not be so big, but there are gaps.
"What? You think you are not good?" Deng Kai said, "If you are not good, I will have to find Cristiano Ronaldo. He is indeed not as strong as you, but I am confident to help him defeat our defense."
Quaresma couldn't do it at that time: "Who says I can't do it? I am a player of Sporting Lisbon's first team, and it is more than enough to fly with you! As for Ronaldo... he is still very young!"
If nothing else, Quaresma will definitely play in the Portuguese Super League with the first team next season, and may even become a main player.
…
The next day’s training match.
The substitute team beat the main team three to five.
Lost.
But not much was lost.
It can be said to be a huge contrast compared to the past few days.
Quaresma completed a hat-trick of goals.
Deng Kai sent him two assists.
After the game, Violante was very happy.
Because Quaresma is fully activated.
Quaresma is different from Ronaldo. The former has the ability to self-activate, while the latter does not.
So Ronaldo needs someone to pass the ball to him, but Quaresma doesn't.
However... if someone can pass the ball to Quaresma, Quaresma can perform better.
That should be his peak state.
Now the problem before the Portuguese coaching staff suddenly became clear.
Using a double midfielder formation, the defensive power is enhanced, but Quaresma becomes mediocre. Because even when Viana is with a single midfielder in the center, he prefers to go to the left to cooperate with Ronaldo.
Viana himself is a left-wing player and is more comfortable on the left. This is due to his playing habit.
And Ronaldo is extremely fast and likes to sprint, which can help Viana pull well.
Viana went to the right wing where Quaresma was, and had no choice but to play for Quaresma. Subconsciously, he himself would not like this choice.
Option two, use a double attacking midfielder formation to increase the attack power and Quaresma can explode at any time.
Deng Kai can completely liberate Quaresma.
So who to choose?
Do you think the option is dual attacking midfielders or dual defensive midfielders? Is it Deng Kai or Meireles?
No.
In fact, the choice is to let Quaresma play as an ordinary player or as a superstar.
The answer is obviously the latter.
Because Quaresma is a superstar in his own right - as far as young players are concerned.
He is the top player of the National Youth Team!
It’s a golden sign!
Eighty percent of the followers of this team love Quaresma!
He is a well-known future star across Europe. His current market value has reached 6 million euros, which is more than twice the total value of the other players in the team!
It would be unfair to Quaresma if he were to be valued at one-eleventh.
Because what he brought to the team has already exceeded one eleventh.
It even reached nine out of ten points!
In this case, what happens if we get three-elevenths or four-elevenths of the team's resources?
It may still be unfair, but it's not that he took too much, but that he took too little, because he should have received nine-eleven points!
In the end, head coach Violante made the decision to adopt a double attacking midfielder strategy!
Deng Kai's right midfielder.
Meireles midfielder.
Although Meireles was very reluctant, he had to accept this decision.
Because if he doesn't play, Veloso and Semedo of Sporting Lisbon U15 are both very good defensive midfielders, and they are specialized defensive midfielders, so they are more suitable for this position than him.
The reason why Meireles is allowed to play this position is largely due to Meireles's cards and overall strength.
Of course, it's not just Meireles. This kind of positional competition and compromise can be seen everywhere in the team.
Pereira lost to Bosingwa and became the team's substitute right back. But do you want to say that Bosingwa is definitely better than Pereira? At least offensively, Pereira is actually stronger.
Veloso and Semedo are stronger defensively, but they can only serve as Meireles' substitutes.
Angelo's strength is not inferior to that of the main central defender Ricardo Duardi, but the latter is older and more senior, so Angelo can only play as a substitute.
Cristiano Ronaldo, as the top striker of Sporting Lisbon's U15 team, could only give Viana a hand and had to install a passing key.
Deng Kai is obviously also an attacking midfielder, but he often has to step in and pull out to fill gaps for Viana. His and Viana's team weights are obviously different.
Eleven different individuals are constantly rubbing against each other in the team, constantly looking for each other's adaptive boundaries.
Finally formed a whole.
This is football.
And as time goes by, the Ou Shao Competition... officially begins!
Portugal was assigned to the same group as the host Czech Republic, Poland, and Switzerland, and was lucky enough to avoid the powerful Dutch team.