Manchester United winger Nani will be under the spotlight as he looks to fill the void left by injured captain Cristiano Ronaldo as Portugal host Chile in an international friendly on Saturday night.

Nani is enjoying his best season to date since joining the Premier League leaders and he is hoping to replicate his performances for his country. "I think I've been doing well this season for my national team and I hope to do much better, the best moment is now," he said.

His former United team-mate Ronaldo has been ruled out of the forthcoming double-header against Chile and Finland and the team, under coach Paulo Bento, will be looking for a better performance than they produced in their previous friendly against Argentina.

Their visitors Chile are on an unbeaten run that stretches back to a 2-1 defeat in Ukraine at the start of September, their last friendly was a 1-1 draw against the United States.

I think I've been doing well this season for my national team and I hope to do much better, the best moment is now.
Portugal winger Nani

Korea Republic meanwhile will start planning for the future without Nani's Manchester United team-mate Park Ji-Sung, who announced his international retirement after the AFC Asian Cup. Honduras are the visitors to Seoul tomorrow and Korea Republic coach Cho Kwang-Rae has highlighted finding a replacement for Park as a vital part of the match.

"I am thinking about using Kim Bo-Kyong," he said. "He didn't play at the Asian Cup but he has been looking good in training. Physically he is strong and I have high expectations of him."

Kim was also a non-playing member of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ squad, and whilst he acknowledges the game against Honduras as a chance for him to get into the team, he isn't looking at himself as a replacement for Park.

"Nobody can take the place of Park Ji-Sung in the team but I will do the best I can," said Kim. "This game is a great opportunity. I don't know when the next one will come around so I want to play with no regret and try to show my ability."

Messi heads Stateside
FIFA Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi is part of the Argentina squad which has travelled to New Jersey to play the USA and ahead of Saturday's game he has received glowing praise from both managers.

Argentina coach Sergio Batista believes his talismanic playmaker will go down as one of the greatest players of all time. "Messi is on the way to becoming the best footballer in history," he said.

"If one looks into the future, Lionel has everything. Maradona was one of the greatest, without a doubt. But Messi right now is the best in the world, and we have to take advantage of that."

Even USA coach Bob Bradley reserved special praise for the Barcelona star. "Some players are just on the kind of level where you have huge admiration for them above anything else," he said. "Messi is one of those. Would I pay to watch him? Without a doubt."

We're not kidding ourselves - it's going to be a difficult game because they're a better team than us.
Scotland's Christoph Berra on Brazil

Sunday's friendly between Scotland and Brazil will be held at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium and Scotland defender Christophe Berra has insisted the team are under no illusions as to the size of the task they face against the five time FIFA World Cup winners.

"We're not kidding ourselves - it's going to be a difficult game because they're a better team than us with better individuals, but we want to continue our progress."

Tomorrow will also see England's UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying opponents Montenegro host Uzbekistan after their initial friendly in Japan was cancelled following the earthquake and tsunami earlier this month.

Elsewhere tomorrow Lithuania host Poland, Uruguay travel to Estonia and China host New Zealand. The remainder of Saturday's friendly action sees Panama play Bolivia, Colombia meet Ecuador and Paraguay take on Mexico in California.