Portsmouth boss on how long Australian striker Kusini Yengi could be missing - and how he plans to cope

Kusini Yengi will be absent from at least four Pompey matches as his Asian Cup commitments become clearer.

Friday’s trip to Exeter will mark his final fixture before linking up with the Australian squad on January 1.

The 23-year-old has been selected for the Qatar-based tournament, from January 12 until February 10, thereby clashing with Blues commitments.

Australia are named in Group B of the 24-team competition, where they will face India (January 13), Syria (January 18) and Uzbekistan (January 23).

Should the Socceroos fail to qualify, potentially Yengi could be back for Pompey duty at Port Vale on January 27.

However, he would still miss Stevenage (January 1), Cheltenham (January 6), Leyton Orient (January 13) and Fleetwood (January 20).

Alternatively, should Australia qualify from Group B, fixtures for the last 16 take place from January 28-31.

Mousinho told The News: ‘Kas goes on January 1, so he will miss out on the Stevenage game.

‘At the moment, we have two other centre-forwards in the building. I know we’ve been employing Christian as a 10, but we are pretty pleased with the cover we have and are going to keep an eye on things over the transfer window.

‘We just have to make sure we don’t over-inflate the squad because Kas is going to be back at some point and we're happy where we are with centre-forwards.’

Yengi has netted seven times in 16 appearances since joining from Western Sydney Australia in July.

His temporary absence leaves 12-goal leading scorer Colby Bishop and Christian Saydee as Mousinho’s striker options.

Saydee, who has rarely been employed as a centre-forward since his summer arrival, has registered twice in 25 outings for the Blues.