China's key defenders Sun Jihai and Fan Zhiyi will miss Saturday's make-or-break game against
Brazil through injury.
"They still haven't recovered and it's impossible for
them to play," said coach Bora Milutinovic.
Fan hurt his left foot in a warm-up match against Portugal in Macau two weeks ago and aggravated the injury in the 2-0 defeat to Costa Rica.
Sun damaged his ankle when he was scythed down by Costa Rican
defender Luis Marin in Tuesday's match.
An X-ray showed no bone damage but his ankle was badly sprained, a team doctor said.
The likely replacements for the two defenders are Zhang
Enhua and Qi Hong.
Milutinovic added that
China would not change their defensive strategy.
"You don't change the strategy, you just change the players,"
The Serb coach, who has also guided Mexico, Costa Rica, the United States and Nigeria to the World Cup finals, said concentration
would be crucial against Brazil.
"For such a strong opponent we must improve our concentration
and as far as possible prevent the opposition from controlling
ball," he said.
"In the Costa Rica game we lost the ball because our concentration was not good enough at some crucial moments.
"But the match against Brazil is also a pleasure for us because everybody knows what it means to be able to play Brazil."