Olaroiu: Injured Shamrani doubtful for first game against China

Saudi Arabia's top player Nassir Al Shamrani may not start due to an old injury for the first game against China at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia's head coach Cosmin Olaroiu told the media at the pre-match press conference Friday that his ace player, Reigning AFC Player of the Year aggravated his old injury in their 2-0 warmup defeat to South Korea on Jan. 4 and may not be fit enough to play against China.

"He had some problems against Korea," said Olaroiu, "It's something he had before. Our medical staff have tried to improve him but we will see. We still have time."

Saudi's captain Saud Kariri believes they can cope without Shamrani for their opener in Group B, "Shamrani is a very good player, a very important player to any team. If he plays or doesn't play, we don't know exactly, but we have a good squad of 23 players and everybody is ready to give it his 100 percent."

If Shamrani can't be listed in the lineup, young striker Naif Hazazi will likely to be his replacement, the tall and speedy hitman has a nose for goal and is strong at air balls, which may still cause big trouble for China.

Olaroiu gave good comments on his opponent, "We have to face the strongest opponent in the group in the first game. I saw them, they are a very strong team. They've changed a lot from the qualification games, and they have a very good coach, they are organized and we're going to have a difficult game."

"We are not here to complain; we are here to try to do things. We are not here to complain about any physical, technical or any other problems," said the Romanian when asked about the team's problems. Endi