The former Morocco striker criticized the slow Portuguese defense

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

Portugal's number one central defender pair at the 2022 World Cup is Ruben Dias and Danilo Pereira. However, Danilo broke three of his right ribs during practice and missed the tournament. Therefore, coach Fernando Santos had to place 39-year-old midfielder Pepe with Dias in the 2-0 win over Uruguay and 6-1 Switzerland. 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."

Nader praised coach Walid Regragui for building a pragmatic and disciplined team. Of the teams that reached the quarter-finals, Morocco defended best, conceding just once. The African representatives drew 0-0 with Croatia, won 2-0 against Belgium, 2-1 in Canada in the group stage, and then defeated Spain on penalties in the 1/8 round. Meanwhile, Portugal owns the worst defense with five goals conceded.

"Morocco locked every pass, leaving Spain only one or two chances," he commented on the victory in the 1/8 round. "Spain has a lot of difficulties in finding a way to penetrate Morocco's defense. Surely Portugal will too."

However, the 57-year-old former striker sees fitness as Morocco's problem. In the 1/8 round, the army under Walid Regragui had to stretch for 120 minutes and then shoot out a penalty shootout against Spain, while Portugal won easily against Switzerland 6-1. In which, Portugal led 4-0 after 55 minutes and slowed down at the end of the game.

"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 games between 1987-2001, scoring twice, including one in a 1-2 loss to the Netherlands in the group stage of the 1994 World Cup.