China's soccer coach Zhu Guanghu speaks during a pre-match news conference for the AFC Asian Cup Group C soccer tournament in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. China will play Uzbekistan today and needs at least a draw to qualify for the quarterfinals. Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR: China's coach yesterday insisted his team was in good shape for the make-or-break Group C clash with Uzbekistan despite a rash of injuries and the loss of suspended captain Zheng Zhi.

Zhu Guanghu, whose central defender Li Weifeng has also picked up two yellow cards, said China had plenty of replacements for the influential pair.

Goalkeeper Li Leilei, Zheng Bin, Zhou Haibin will all take late fitness tests.

Defeat to Uzbekistan, nearly 30 places higher in the world rankings, will dump China out of the Asian Cup and probably mean the sack for the embattled Zhu.

"We've got 23 excellent players and those who haven't played yet are in a better condition," said the coach.

"So I'll change the line-up on Wednesday and I think it will be a good match."

Zhu dismissed suggestions that China would fail to reach the knock-out stage for the first time since 1980, and said he was still aiming at the last four.

"Our goal is to get to the semifinals and our team is getting better each game, so we're sure we can achieve this goal," he said.

However, Bundesliga midfielder Shao Jiayi admitted the loss of Li and Zheng, who impressed at Charlton Athletic this season and is seeking a return to the Premier League, was significant.

"The absence of Zheng Zhi and Li Weifeng will definitely affect our team," said the Energie Cottbus man.

"They've been very important for us in the last two matches, especially Zheng Zhi. But we've been improving match by match and I'm sure we'll get a good result on Wednesday."

China's 5-1 hammering of Malaysia raised hopes it was emerging from a long slumber since reaching the 2004 final. But the Uzbeks also routed the co-hosts and China squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Iran.

The Iran result prompted fresh criticism by Chinese media with the official Xinhua news agency commenting on a "lack of certain technical style and faint concept of how to set a well-organized midfield."

China has only met Uzbekistan once in the Asian Cup, losing 2-0 in 1996, but they beat the former Soviet republic 3-1 in a friendly in March.

Uzbekistan also has Islom Inomov suspended but it is likely to welcome back Olympic captain Aziz Haydarov after his recovery from injury.

"Losing those two players is not a big problem for China, they have players who can play instead of them," said Uzbek coach Rauf Inileyev.

Zhu took over in early 2005 after China's failure to reach last year's World Cup, but the team has slipped down the rankings to 76 and lost warm-up friendlies to Australia, the United States and Thailand.

The unpopular coach has become a consistent target for the impatient Chinese fans no matter whatthe result. Almost 60 percent of 30,000 respondents on a Sina.com poll thought he made a mistake by being too conservative during China's 2-2 tie with Iran, a game China lead 2-0.

In another poll, 33 percent of 35,000 respondents thought the mental weakness of Zhu and the Chinese players could be the deciding factor during China's game against Uzbekistan today. Another 28 percent said China would lose the game if it adopts overly conservative tactics.

Agencies and China Daily

(China Daily 07/18/2007 page22)