Ricardo Quaresma - International Career

International Career

A UEFA Under-17 Championship winner with Portugal in 2000, Quaresma made his full international debut for the Portuguese national team in June 2003, in a friendly against Bolivia.

Poor form during his time with FC Barcelona and an injury prevented Quaresma from taking part in the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, Euro 2004, and the 2004 Olympics. Sparkling displays, however, with FC Porto won him a role in Portugal's 2006 World Cup qualification campaign and the winger helped his country to a vital 2–0 win against Slovakia. Quaresma, however, was left out of the 23-man squad named by coach Luiz Felipe Scolari to represent Portugal in the 2006 World Cup. He was later called up to play in a friendly game against Brazil at the Emirates Stadium, where Portugal won 2–0. Quaresma provided two assists and was named man of the match. On 24 March 2007, Quaresma scored his first goal for the national team in Portugal's 4–0 win in a Euro 2008 qualifier against Belgium. He was also a member of the 23-man squad for Portugal in Euro 2008, but appeared only sparingly for Scolari's Portugal during the tournament; he did start in the Portugal secondary team in a third group stage match, a 2–0 loss to host nation Switzerland where nine of the 11 regular team starters were rested.

Quaresma was not called up for Portugal's 2010 World Cup campaign.

On 31 August 2010, Quaresma was called to play in UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches against Cyprus and Norway to replace the injured Cristiano Ronaldo. On 3 September, Quaresma led Portugal against Cyprus in an entertaining encounter that ended 4–4. He was named man of the match after two years of absence from the national team.