The influx of foreign soccer players has deprived the opportunities of the local talents to develop into decent strikers, complained China caretaker coach Yin Tiesheng on Tuesday.

Yin is determined to hone the strike force of his toothless national team, who lost two warm-up games and won one during their recent West Asia tour.

"Most of the striking positions of our club teams are occupied by the foreign players, and the local strikers have been left with few chances to play," Yin said.

"My team is suffering from that as there are fewer qualified forwards at my disposal. I hope the Chinese Football Association could take some measures to deal with this problem," he said.

The Chinese national team is now training in Shanghai in preparation for the forthcoming Asian Cup qualifers, in which they will play away game against Syria on Jan. 14.

(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2008)