Former Morocco striker points out Portugal's weakness

* Morocco - Portugal: 10pm today 10/12, on MetaSports.

Portugal's number one central defender pair at the 2022 World Cup was originally Ruben Dias and Danilo Pereira. However, due to three broken ribs on his right side in practice, Danilo had to miss the entire tournament. Therefore, coach Fernando Santos ranked 39-year-old midfielder Pepe with Dias in the 2-0 win over Uruguay in the final round of the group stage and 6-1 in Switzerland in the 1/8 round. This duo is likely to continue to play at Al Thumama today.

"I believe Morocco will play low, tight and then find a way to surprise," Nader told Portuguese news agency Lusa on December 9. "In my opinion, Morocco should focus on attacking the central defender position because they are slow. Morocco can take advantage of Sofiane Boufal, while Youssef En-Nesyri and Hakim Ziyech are very strong technically."

Of the teams that reached the quarterfinals, Morocco has the best defensive record when only conceding once. In the group stage, the African representative drew 0-0 with Croatia, won by Belgium 2-0 and Canada 2-1. In the 1/8 round, they drew 0-0 over 120 minutes and then defeated Spain on penalties. Meanwhile, Portugal have conceded five times.

According to Nader, coach Walid Regragui has built a pragmatic and disciplined team for Morocco. "Morocco locked every pass leaving Spain only one or two chances," he commented. "Spain has had a lot of trouble finding a way to penetrate Morocco's defense. Surely Portugal will face the same situation."

However, the 57-year-old former striker sees fitness as Morocco's problem. In the 1/8 round, the army under Regragui had to fight with Spain, and Portugal easily won 6-1 Switzerland. "The defense was under a lot of pressure against Spain," said Nader. "Sofyan Amrabat too. He plays like a warrior. Attacking players also lose their physical strength when they have to participate in defense first and then counter-attack when recovering the ball."

Nader is considered the most famous Moroccan player in Portugal. Born in Casablanca, he started his career with local club Wydad AC and then joined Spanish club Mallorca in 1990.

In July 1992, Nader arrived at Portuguese club S.C. Farense, becoming the top scorer of the tournament in the 1994-1995 season with 21 goals, greatly contributed to helping the club win a place in the UEFA Cup. After that, Nader played for Benfica in the period 1995-1997, then returned to Farense and won the tournament. In total, Nader scored 94 goals in 219 matches in the Portuguese league, mainly in the Farense shirt - where he surpassed the 100-goal mark in official matches.

At the national team level, Nader only played for Morocco 15 matches between 1987-2001, scoring twice, including one in a 1-2 loss to the Netherlands in the group stage of the 1994 World Cup.