Xubuntu VMware Player missing vmrun utility

According to the documentation:

The vmrun utility installs with Workstation and VMware Fusion.

For use with remote product platforms, you can obtain vmrun by installing the VIX standalone libraries, available free of charge on the VMware download site.

That's not very specific, but you can download the packages here (and select the version you need). Then install the VIX API according to these instructions (download step included for informational purposes, since you can download from previous link)

Download the tar-gzip package. For example:

wget http://www.vmware.com/downloads/server/VMware-vix-110068.i386.tar.gz

As superuser, extract the package:

sudo tar zxpf VMware-vix-110068.i386.tar.gz

Change directory and, as superuser, run the VMware installer:

cd vmware-vix-distrib
sudo ./vmware-install.pl

Read the EULA and type "yes" if you agree to its terms. You can accept most defaults by typing Enter when prompted.

To uninstall the VIX API, run the vmware-uninstall-vix.pl script. The uninstaller is at /usr/bin/vmware-uninstall-vix.pl by default.