Sports

FIFA World Cup: Fiery Portugal striker Quaresma misses out again

Nani included in 23-man squad despite unimpressive season with United

Agencies May 20, 2014

Quaresma, in his second stint at Porto, has also played for Barcelona, Inter Milan, Besiktas and UAE side Al Ahli in his controversial career. PHOTO: UEFA

LISBON: Fiery striker Ricardo Quaresma missed out again as Portugal named their final 23-man squad for the World Cup on Monday, headlined by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Thirty-year-old Quaresma, who was overlooked in both 2006 and 2010, had made the provisional list of 30 announced last week but was among the unlucky seven to be axed by coach Paulo Bento.

Quaresma, in his second stint at Porto, has also played for Barcelona, Inter Milan, Besiktas and UAE side Al Ahli in his controversial career and had a brief spell on loan at Chelsea.

Forward Nani made the cut despite an unimpressive season with Manchester United.

"The position of national team coach carries a lot of prestige and is not immune to criticism," Bento told a news conference.

"I have to accept that people will question my decisions. Nani has difference characteristics to Quaresma."

The other six to miss out were goalkeeper Anthony Lopes (Olympique Lyon), defenders Antunes (Malaga) and Rolando (Inter Milan), midfielders Andre Gomes (Benfica) and Joao Mario (Vitoria Setubal) and forward Ivan Cavaleiro.

Hodgson warns England players of perils of team disharmony

England coach Roy Hodgson has warned his players to sacrifice their egos for the good of the team at the World Cup lest they end up like the strife-torn France side of the 2010 finals.

France endured a dismal World Cup at South Africa, crashing out of the group stage after the expulsion of forward Nicolas Anelka from the squad following a heated clash with then-coach Raymond Domenech and a subsequent players' revolt.

"One thing is for certain: there's no chance for any team in the World Cup if they're not in it together," he told British media.

"We've seen that in the past, examples where teams who were not together, like France in the last one where all the problems were coming out. If you want to win any tournament, if you want to win a league for that matter, you'd better make certain that you as a team are all together.”