Quaresma treats the world to a trivela

It took Ricardo Quaresma 78 games to finally make his first FIFA World Cup™ start with Portugal and score his first goal in the competition.

A second-half substitute against Spain, Quaresma seized the opportunity given to him by coach Fernando Santos from the off against IR Iran and stunned the world with a sumptuous trivela strike as the first half of Portugal’s final group match came to an end. A speciality of the winger’s that he has developed during the course of his career, the trivela sees him sees him strike the ball with the outside of his boot, causing it to swerve and making it difficult for opposing goalkeepers to save.

Quaresma’s wonder goal against the Iranians made him the oldest Portugal player to score at the World Cup, at the age of 34 years and 272 days. The previous record was held by team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo.

His duty done, Quaresma was substituted 24 minutes from the end and later received the Budweiser Man of the Match award for his efforts.

“It’s always been one of my dreams to be at the World Cup,” the winger later said. “The team comes first, though, and we’re delighted that we’ve achieved our objective of reaching the last 16.

“I struck the ball well. I’ve seen other players do that type of shot. It was a great goal […] I always try to do my best and, like I said, the most important thing was that we got a point and made it through to the next round.”