Chapter 5: Time to change head coach

11/11/2000

Primeira Liga round 11, Sporting Lisbon moves to José Gomes stadium to play against Amadora and has a hard victory score 2-1.

Two teams play very stably until 40' minutes in the first half, João Pinto makes a long shot to open the score 1-0.

61' minutes, Beto scores to help Sporting lead two-goal ahead.

72' minutes, Djalma helps Amadora pull back a goal, and the game ends with the score 2-1.

In this game, Quaresma still does not has time to play cause coach Inácio is under pressure from the club manager so he does not want to take the risk and let a young player like Quaresma play.

The coach let the team has two days to restore their energy for the next game.

Quaresma takes time to visit his family and he also meets his agent Mendes.

Mendes says:

" Ricardo did you know that many clubs want to have you after seeing your performance in the Champions League cause you are still young and do not have many performances in the league so they need to observe more before deciding to sign you".

Quaresma silence nods and says:

" I know many teams want me but I think that I will stay here this season and play for two more seasons before I make decisions about leaving".

Mendes nods and replies:

" Okay, you need more time to play and grow your strength before leaving for the powerful league".

19/11/2000

In Primeira Liga round 12, Sporting Lisbon plays against Boavista at home, and in this game who wins will have a chance to take a championship.

70' minutes into the game, the score was still 0-0, and coach Inácio decides to let Quaresma play and replace Bino.

75' minutes, Quaresma uses speed to break through from the wing, his dribbling makes the defender lose balance and make a cross but the keeper makes a clearance.

85' minutes, Quaresma cut inside from the wing to make a curve shot and score a lore goal to help Sporting win with the score 1-0.

Quaresma is so excited after a goal and he takes off his shirt to celebrate and receives a yellow card from the referee.

The team has two days of rest before returning to prepare for the next game.

03/12/2000

Round 13 that Sporting Lisbon plays against Benfica and this will be another hard game to play.

42' minutes, André Cruz fouls Maniche inside the penalty area and receives a yellow card from the referee so Van Hooijdonk does not miss any mistake to open the score 1-0.

61' minutes, Benfica uses a substitute for João Tomás to replace Van Hooijdonk.

70' minutes, Quaresma gets in the field to replace Paulo Bento.

75' minutes, the referee gives Pedro Barbosa a red card after a dangerous foul so in the last 15 minutes, Sporting has to play with 10 people on the field.

João Tomás scores two goals in 77' and 81' minutes to help Benfica lead three-goal ahead.

88' minutes, Quaresma uses speed to cut inside from the left wing and make a curve shot to pull back a goal for Sporting then the game ends with the score 3-1.

After the game, the Sporting club manager decided to fire coach Inácio and let Fernando Mendes

replace as a head coach but the time to short for the team to adapt to a new formation.

09/12/2000

Primeira Liga round 14, Sporting Lisbon plays against Os Belenenses at home and has a hard victory 2-1 under new coach commands.

50' minutes, José Delfim makes a long shot to open the score 1-0 for Sporting.

71' minutes, João Pinto scores a header and helps Sporting lead 2-0.

90' minutes, Marcão helps Belenenses pull back goals, and the game ends with a score of 2-1.

Quaresma has to sit on the bench in this game cause coach Mendes does not trust him much and because of Quaresma's bad temper, his wild play style and he easy to gets angry so he was given the nickname Mustang by a fan.

Quaresma is quite angry after hearing this from coach Mendes so it can not deny and no one asks him how he feels except his mother.

Now Quaresma has to train harder to prove himself to become the top star that many clubs want to chase.