Gomez puts Costa Rica ahead (Allsport).

Manchester City's Chinese star Sun Jihai will have an anxious wait to know whether he will play again in this World Cup.

The Maine Road midfielder was injured in a late tackle by Mauricio Solas after only 17 minutes of China's 2-0 defeat by Costa Rica.

The Costa Rica man, who used to play for Derby County, was booked and Sun Jihai limped out of the action with a damaged left ankle eight minutes later.

Now the Chinese player of the year fears he may be out of his country's next match against Brazil in Seogwipo on Saturday.

And there are fears that he may not recover to play in the final group match with Turkey on June 13 in Seoul.

Sun Jihai limped from the ground saying: "I just do not know, my ankle is sore and I will need treatment. I fear I will be out of the Brazil game, who knows."

Coach Bora Milutinovic said: "We will return to our training base and then see how he is. He will need treatment, maybe a scan. At the moment it is impossible to say how he is.

"When he came off he said that his ankle hurt. But until we have had chance to assess the injury we will not know whether he can play again in the tournament."

And China's veteran boss refused to write off his shattered side's chances of staying in the World Cup beyond the group stages after their defeat by Costa Rica.

China, in their first finals, were outplayed in the second half and buried by goals from Mauricio Wright and Ronald Gomez.

And now with Group C giants Turkey and Brazil to come the future looks bleak for Bora's boys.

But he said: "I am hurt but I am not sick. We had chances, particularly from free-kicks, but it was hard to come back after they scored those two quick goals.

"It is a shame for us and our supporters but there are two games left and anything is possible in this game.

"We will not need to be motivated for the game with Brazil, and we will not be under so much expectation in that one. Losing Sun Jihai was a blow because he is one of out best players, but it is not an excuse for the way we played."

Costa Rica boss Alexandre Guimaraes, who was captain of his country when Milutinovic was his manager in the 1990 finals, said: "We knew China would be strong and well organised but we developed our game well and scored two fine goals.

"It is important to start this group with a win, particularly with the strength of sides we have to face, but this has given us great confidence."

Goalscorer Gomez added: "I think this win is a gift for my country. We will be trying our best in the next two games, we believe we can still get points in this group."

China captain Ma Mingyu added: "It is regrettable that we didn't concentrate hard enough, particularly in the period that they scored.

"Our performances do tend to fluctuate, and we have not given up hope."

Guimaraes admitted that he felt proud to have beaten his old boss. He said: "I have very strong feelings of respect for Bora, I admire him and have learned so much from him.

"I also respect his feelings and I was happy and proud for my team to face him and do so well."