The quarter-finals of the Asian Cup get underway today (thurs). First up will be South Korea against Uzbekistan in Melbourne, with kickoff at 6.30 pm. Then at 8.30 pm, Australia will take on China in Brisbane.
Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak returns to the squad after missing the past two games due to an ankle injury.
Jedinak admits he’s unsure how his body will handle the match.
“Do I think I’ll be affected by maybe lack of game time the last couple of games? Probably not. But that’s just me. So, we’ll have to wait and see.”
China captain Zheng Zhi is set to overcome a back injury and line up in Thursday’s AFC Asian Cup quarter-final against Australia.
Zhi trained with his teammates on Tuesday evening at Perry Park in Brisbane and moved freely in the 15 minutes of the session open to the media.
The 34-year-old former Celtic and Charlton Athletic midfielder was withdrawn in the 53rd minute of Team Dragon’s 2-1 win over Korea DPR on Sunday after sustaining the injury.
But the overwhelming likelihood is that with so much at stake for one of Asian football’s biggest under-achievers, China coach Alain Perrin will roll the dice even if he is not 100 per cent fit.
Perrin admitted after the Korea match that his side clearly struggled without its leader.
“He is a good organiser in midfield and a very experienced player,” the Frenchman said.
“We realised after Zheng Zhi left that we had had some problems, we had some trouble organising the midfield.
“It’s obvious that if the key player’s not here we have difficulties during the game.”
In the other quarter-finals, Iran will play Iraq in Canberra; and the United Arab Emirates will play the defending champions, Japan, in Sydney.
source:sbs.com.au
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