#2 Pepe
Pepe is the most senior defender in Portugal's team at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Having been a dedicated and loyal player for Portugal over the years, Pepe is extremely good at tackling, is physical and is an efficient interceptor.
Having shown his defensive prowess at Euro 2016, Pepe was not strong against Diego Costa and hence conceded a goal very easily. He improved in the second match against Morocco and defensively guided his team to a 1-0 victory. His defensive techniques will be tested by Iran in today's game.
Pepe will be responsible for negating any threat Iran will throw at Portugal's defence and his defensive leadership skills will encourage the other Portuguese defenders to not commit any mistakes in today's crucial game against Iran.