Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Brisbane: Saudi Arabia's reigning AFC Player of the Year Nassir Al Shamrani is in a fitness race for the three-time champions' AFC Asian Cup Group C opener against China on Saturday.
Saudi coach Cosmin Olaroiu said on Friday that the Al Hilal striker aggravated an old injury during a 2-0 defeat to Korea Republic in a friendly on January 4 and remains questionable for the Green Falcons' campaign launch.
"He had some problems against Korea," said Olaroiu, who took charge just three weeks out of the tournament. "It's something he had before. Our medical staff have tried to improve him but we will see. We still have time."
With or without Al Shamrani, however, midfielder Saud Kariri firmly believes his team will not embarrass themselves when they set foot on the pitch at Brisbane Stadium.
"Al Shamrani is a very good player, a very important player to any team," the Al Hilal man said. "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."
Olaroiu does not believe his brief period with Saudi, who went out in the first round in Qatar four years ago, will handicap the side as they attempt to progress out of a group also including Uzbekistan and DPR Korea.
"We have to face the strongest opponent in the group in the first game," the Romanian said of China.
"I saw them, they are a very strong team. They've changed a lot from the qualification games but they have a very good coach, they are organised and we're going to have a difficult game.
"We'll try to fix some problems we have had in the last few days. We'll try to be in the best shape we can in the first game. Of course at this level, they are all good. We cannot say that one is stronger than the other one.
"The time I have spent until now has helped me a lot in understanding the players and how they play. Of course any coach wants to have more time to prepare the team. We have had this short time together and I will try to do my best.
"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.
"My wish is to win the game tomorrow (Saturday). We'll think about the next game when we have to. We have to take short steps and the most important thing is the first step."