Asian Cup 2015: Saudi Arabia striker Nasser Al-Shamrani out of tournament with injury

CONTROVERSIAL striker Nassir Al-Shamrani has been ruled out of the Asian Cup with an abdominal injury on the eve of Saudi Arabia’s opening game against China..

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SAUDI Arabia’s Asian Cup hopes have been dealt a severe blow, with star attacker Nasser Al-Shamrani ruled out of the tournament.

The Asian Football Confederation player of the year had been in doubt his side’s Group B clash against China on Saturday nightt at Suncorp Stadium due to an abdominal injury he suffered in Saudi Arabia’s 2-0 friendly loss to South Korea earlier this week.

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Nasser Al-Shamrani gets some work from the physio during Saudi Arabia training.

But Al-Shamrani will now miss the entire Asian Cup, with the Saudis reportedly naming midfielder Ibrahim Ghaleb as his replacement in the squad.

Australian football fans are unlikely to have much sympathy for Al-Shamrani, who was suspended for eight club matches for headbutting and spitting at Western Sydney Wanderers defender Matthew Spiranovic in the second leg of November’s AFC Champions League final.

But Saudi Arabia coach Cosmin Olaroiu had been desperate to name Al-Shamrani for the match against China, who he rated the best team in Group B.

“We have to face in the first game the strongest team in the group,” he said.

“They are a very have a very good coach (Frenchman Alain Perrin) and are very organised.”

However, Perrin hinted Olaroiu was playing mind games.

“All the coaches are very professional with the media. They know how to answer questions,” the former Marseille and Portsmouth coach said.

“They are doing their preparations, but we are doing ours.

“I already feel a lot of pressure, but we will handle it.”

China remain the great under-achievers of Asian football.

Despite being able to draw on a population of more than 1.3 billion, the Chinese national team have never been a genuine continental heavyweight.

They failed to qualify for last year’s World Cup and haven’t progressed beyond the group stage in the past two Asian Cups.

Another failure won’t be tolerated.

“There is no maximum or minimum requirement for us - just a target,” China attacking weapon Yu Hanchao said.

“For the last two Asian Cups, we failed to qualify for the knockout stages, so this time we need to do better.”

China and Saudi Arabia have met 17 times in a rivalry dating back to 1978.

Saudi Arabia have a 7-6 edge, with the other four games ending in draws.

“In the past two years we have played each other many times so we know them and they know us,” said China attacking weapon Yu Hanchao.

“The Saudi team has very good players, are very fast and very skilful.”