Prolific Dynamo Kiev hitman Shatskikh is suspended for the game at Bukit Jalil National Stadium after being red-carded in Uzbekistan’s final qualifying match against Qatar last November, while veteran central defender Alikulov is sidelined for the tournament after suffering a head injury during the recent training camp in Korea.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference in the Malaysian capital on Tuesday, Uzbekistan coach Rauf Inileyev was keen to downplay the absence of the pair.

"Of course, every team has its own problems when it comes to tournaments and, unfortunately, we will not have the services of Maksim Shatskikh because of suspension," said Inileyev.

"The presence of Shatskikh would strengthen our team but we have got other players who can play in his place. We have a squad of 23 and empty spots can always be filled by other players.

"The problem is not only Shatskikh as we have also lost an important defender in Alikulov, who was injured in our training camp and had to be sent home to Tashkent.

"However, as I said earlier, all teams have their problems when it comes to tournaments and it would be difficult to have all of your best players at 100% for the games."

Given the absence of Shatskikh and Alikulov, Inileyev could hardly have asked for a tougher start to the competition against a strong Iran side seeking its first Asian Cup title since 1976.

"I don’t know whether we are lucky or unlucky to play Iran in our first game," he said. "They are one of the strongest teams in Asia and they qualified to play at the 2006 World Cup so we must respect them.

"But we will try to play our best game [on Wednesday] and get a result that will make our fans happy.

"The decision on who we play at this tournament is not determined by us so we just have to prepare ourselves in the best way. We don’t choose our opponents so I cannot say whether it is good or bad that we are playing against Iran in our opening game."

Meanwhile, Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei believes that his side have acclimatised well to the humid conditions of south-east Asia as they look to clinch the trophy for the first time in over 30 years.

"We knew that we had to adapt the team to the climate here so we arrived early and set up a programme that would have the players ready for the first game," said Ghalenoei, whose side have been in Kuala Lumpur since last Wednesday.

"We know about Malaysia’s high humidity so we needed to work on physical fitness training first to get our players used to the conditions, before working on our technical game.

"We are ready now for the Asian Cup but it is important that we respect all of the other teams. None of them can be underestimated."

With fellow favourites Japan and Australia failing to register wins in their opening matches in the tournament, Iran are certainly not about to take their opponents lightly.

"The results that have happened in the Asian Cup in the last few days show that the standard of teams in Asia is getting closer and that all of the teams here will face tough games.

"The matches here in Kuala Lumpur will be hard for us because the teams in this group are strong. We have to work hard and think out the strategies for all of our games.

"This is especially true of Uzbekistan, who are tough opponents and have their own hopes of doing well in this competition."