INCHEON: Saudi Arabia coach Lorenzo Antolinez Remesal is not perturbed by the suspension of top striker Raed Abdullah Al Ghamdi for their final Group A match against Malaysia at the Goyang Stadium on Sunday.
Referee Ma Ning of China gave Raed a red card for diving inside the box deep into injury time in the 1-0 defeat by South Korea on Wednesday. He had earlier received a yellow card for a foul.
The 20-year-old is a key player for the Green Falcons, having scored once in the 3-0 win over Laos in their Group A opener last week.
Lorenzo refused to say whether he would file an appeal to rescind the red card.
“Raed is inexperienced and was unlucky to have two penalty claims brushed off ... we will now try to prepare a player to replace him for the match against Malaysia,” said the Spaniard.
“I watched Malaysia’s last two matches and we have to give them respect. They beat Laos 4-0 so they are a strong team and we have to be cautious of them.”
Group leaders South Korea, on six points, have booked their berth in the last 16 with a match in hand, leaving second-placed Saudi and third-placed Malaysia to slug it out for the final slot from the group.
Both Saudi and Malaysia have three points each after two matches, but the former has a better goal difference.
The Saudis just need a draw against Malaysia to secure their slot in the knockout stage while Malaysia need a win to advance.
National Under-23 coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee said the Saudis would still be a threat without Raed.
“I don’t think the Saudis will be too weakened by Raed’s suspension. They are still a strong team,” said Kim Swee.
“Only a win counts at this stage. It doesn’t matter how we score the goals, we just have to win to advance to the next stage.”
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