Chinese goalkeeper to miss World Cup qualifiers through injury

BEIJING - Chinese goalkeeper Zeng Cheng is set to miss the upcoming World Cup qualifiers after picking up a rib injury in a Chinese Super League match on Monday.

The Shanghai Shenhua goalie was injured in the 75th minute of the 1-1 draw against Hebei FC when he tried to save a corner-kick and collided with an onrushing Hebei player.

"Zeng Cheng suffered two fractured ribs," the Shanghai club wrote in a statement after the game.

"As our team's substitution quotas had been used up when Zeng Cheng got injured, he choked back the agony and held on until the final whistle," the statement read.

The 34-year-old, who was listed in the Chinese national team roster on Monday, will surely miss the remaining Asian Group A World Cup qualifiers, which China will host from May 30 to June 15 in Suzhou, an industrial city near Shanghai.

China will face Guam, the Philippines, the Maldives, and Syria in succession.

China is currently eight points adrift of group leader Syria and only leads the Philippines, which is in third place, on goal difference.