Nasief Morris is one of the last great South African footballers to ply their trade in Europe for the majority of their career, having played for the likes of Greek giants Panathinaikos and Spanish club Racing Santander. The former no-nonsense defender spoke with Soccer Laduma about his career abroad, including coming up against Lionel Messi.
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The late 1990s and early 2000s saw a prodigious exodus of South African football talent from home soil.
Many showed that the southern tip of Africa could be a hub for scouts looking for untapped potential on the continent, and Morris proved a benefactor of those before him.
Having climbed through the Santos ranks, the Cape Town native would call Europe home for a decade before returning to the Premier Soccer League to end his career.
How did the move to Greece come about?
Mike Makaab from Prosport. He was in contact with somebody from Greece and they were looking for a centre-back. The [video of the] game that they sent was Santos against [Kaizer] Chiefs in Joburg. That video was sent away and they [Aris Saloniki] watched it and they invited me to come over to spend a couple of days there to have a look at me.
I trialled with them for about a week, and a week or two later they contacted Santos to tell them they were interested in buying me.
You played for arguably the biggest club in Greece in Panathinaikos. What was that experience like, as well as plying your trade in the UEFA Champions League?
I negotiated my exit with Aris and the agent that was looking after me there, he was in contact with both Olympiakos and Panathinaikos. Panathinaikos showed more interest and that is how I ended up joining them.
I think I had the best part of my career there playing Champions League and against the best in the world. At that level in football, you can't afford to make mistakes because the moment you make a mistake, you get punished, so you need to be on top of your game at all times.
While with Panathinaikos, you were on the receiving end of a historic 5-0 loss to Barcelona. Was coming up against Lionel Messi the toughest challenge of your career?
At that time, Messi was still up and coming so the likes of [Thierry] Henry and [Miroslav] Klose were some of the big-name players. But that experience of playing against Barca and against Messi, Ronaldinho and [Samuel] Eto'o and all those players was surreal.
That season [2005/06] with the 5-0 away, we drew at home 0-0 in Athens. That was the only game in that Champions League campaign where Barca never managed to score a single goal and that was a proud moment for me, but obviously going back to the Camp Nou was a totally different experience.
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You played at some major tournaments with Bafana Bafana, but how did it feel to miss out on the 2010 FIFA World Cup on home soil?
I have to answer that question with a question. My season with Recreativo Huelva was one of the seasons in my career where I felt I was in top shape, and I only missed one and a half games of that season [2008/09].
So, I played almost every single game that season and when I came back for the Confederations Cup, I get dropped from the national team, so you tell me how you think I would feel?
For me, the problem in the national team was that there was too much politics and that was the main thing, but from the positive side I always look at it, everything happens for a reason. God's intention was for me not to play in that competition.
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