If the meeting between Portugal and Uruguay was already set to feel like a match-up of stars from yesteryear, then that only intensified with the news that Pepe will start for Portugal in the Group H encounter.

Pepe being drafted into central defence is down to the absence of Danilo Pereira, who suffered three broken ribs in training on Saturday. “As far as I know he is improving and we expect to have him back on the pitch very soon,” said Fernando Santos, the Portugal head coach. “But if we don’t, we have three other centre halves who can replace him. We don’t need to make a drama of it.

The prospect of the 39-year-old Pepe, who Santos labelled “a monster”, starting at Lusail stadium only adds to the collection of ‘experienced’ heads that will be on the pitch. Portugal will also have the 37-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo while Uruguay possess Luis Suarez, 35, and Diego Godin, 35.

Both countries are remaining loyal to their older stars when perhaps the time has come to freshen up their respective teams. There has been talk in Portugal whether Ronaldo, the national team captain who scored a penalty in the 3-2 win over Ghana, is impeding the impact of younger players such as Joao Felix and Rafael Leoa, who were both also on the scoresheet in the opener.

Santos has remained loyal to his captain, Ronaldo (Getty)

Likewise, Suarez’s anonymous performance during Uruguay’s goalless draw with South Korea, in which the striker only managed 18 touches and made seven successful passes during his 64 minutes on the pitch, has sparked debate over whether he should remain in the lineup for the match with Portugal.

The likely replacement would be Edinson Cavani, who at 35 years old is hardly a spring chicken himself.

Whoever starts, Uruguay will need a spark after their underwhelming opening game. Manager Diego Alonso can look back four years to the 2018 World Cup when they eliminated Portugal at the last 16 stage. It was the veteran manager Oscar Tabarez who was in charge that day in Kazan when Uruguay won 2-1 courtesy of goals from Suarez and Cavani.

About what happened four years ago, it’s a different match, we have different players, it will be a completely different match,” Alonso said. “Portugal have a very good squad, they have excellent players, they have a wonderful coach with wide experience.

“That makes them a dangerous team. On the other hand, we also have our own weapons. We will try to win, we will bring our A game.”

'We must change out play'

Rodrigo Bentancur, Uruguay’s midfielder, said: “It will be a different game. It’s been four years since that game and football has evolved. Now we play with more intensity and players are in a better physical condition.

“They [Portugal] play very well with the ball, they play the spaces, they beat the back line of the defence, but we've been working on that and we will try to use our own weapons so that we cannot be defeated.

On Uruguay’s subdued display against South Korea, Bentancur added: “We analysed the game, we know it wasn’t good enough, we weren’t pressing enough. We need to change our play. We were a bit slow. We know it is a crucial game tomorrow. We know that we need to win and that is what we will try to do. We will break our backs as we always do.”

Uruguay must improve after subdued goalless draw with South Korea (Getty)

Should Uruguay drop more points then the pressure will rise on Alonso’s side when they meet Ghana in the final group game.

Santos, who is also still awaiting confirmation of whether Otavio can play a part after fitness issues, said the South Americans remained a very strong team with the ability to counter-attack at pace, even if their attack is starting to age.

We will have to be very careful because they can press their opponents really intensely, force them into errors and then hit them hard,” Santos said.

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