Nigeria's John Mikel Obi is set to miss out on his team's meeting with Ghana The meeting of great rivals Ghana and Nigeria in London marks the highlight of 13 scheduled friendlies involving African national teams this week, in preparation for Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers next month.The Nigeria squad has been depleted by injury and visa problems ahead of the friendly tie at Watford's Vicarage Road ground.
Vincent Enyeama, Victor Obinna, Ekigho Ehiosun, Ambrose Efe and Fengor Ogude all miss out after they failed to obtain UK visas in time for a variety of reasons.
Midfielder John Mikel Obi is a big doubt after suffering an injury in Chelsea's pre-season game against Rangers, while West Bromwich Albion striker Peter Odemwingie faces a late fitness test.
Denmark-based forward Peter Utaka and QPR's Danny Shittu have been called up as replacements.
Ghana, meanwhile, will be without Udinese midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah, who was ruled out over the weekend through injury.
Goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey, and midfielder Albert Adomah will be hoping to use their call-up to establish themselves in the Black Stars squad ahead of the upcoming qualifiers.
Born and based in Norway, Kwarasey qualifies for the Black Stars through his father and has been cleared to play after a three-year wait.
He will be aiming to challenge club-less Richard Kingson for a starting place in the Ghana line-up.
Steven Pienaar is also set to sit out South Africa's home tie Other highlights of the week's friendlies include South Africa's home tie against Burkina Faso, Senegal and Morocco - two in-form teams - meeting in Dakar, Tunisia's game with an understrength Mali, and Ivory Coast and Israel's fixture in Geneva.Bafana Bafana captain Steven Pienaar will miss the Burkina Faso tie at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, after picking up an injury in his club Tottenham Hotspur's friendly match against Atletico Bilbao on Saturday.
Mozambique's tie with Malawi, meanwhile, looks set to be called off, after the Malawian government cancelled the team's trip to Maputo, following an external travel ban imposed last month.
The Flames were due to travel on Monday, but the government intervened to stop the trip, following its announcement last month that all foreign travel by institutions that receive direct funding from government be stopped as part of cost-cutting measures.
The government also critiscised the Football Association of Malawi (Fam) for not consulting it before organising the trip.
"Fam are well aware that the government imposed a ban on external travel for the months of July, August and September," said Jameson Ndalama from the country's sports ministry.
"I wonder how they went ahead to organise the trip to Mozambique without consulting my ministry."
Malawi coach Kinnah Phiri has expressed disappointment at the cancellation of the trip, but says his team will continue to train for next month's crucial clash against Tunisia in Group K.
"It is definitely a set-back, because this game was very important for Malawi to gauge the strength of the team and look at the new players that are incorporated into our team," Phiri said.
"But with this situation there's nothing I can do. This is the only Fifa calender date where players can meet from different clubs, but now we will continue training in preparation for the Tunisia game."
Collated friendly fixture list:
09 August:
Nigeria v Ghana, Watford, London - Wednesday
10 August:
Senegal v Morocco, Dakar
South Africa v Burkina Faso, Johannesburg
Gabon v Guinea, Paris
Equatorial Guinea v Guinea-Bissau, Lisbon
Zimbabwe v Zambia, Harare
Tunisia v Mali, Monastir
Ivory Coast v Israel, Geneva
Botswana v Kenya, Gaborone
Liberia v Angola, Monrovia
Malta v Central African Republic, Malta
The Gambia v DR Congo, Banjul
Sudan v Tanzania, Khartoum
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CAF Champions League 2011
Cairo International Stadium
African Confederation Cup 2011 | Friday 12 Aug 2011 | |||||||||
| 21:00 | JS Kabylie - Algeria | Daring Club Motema Pembe - Congo, The Democratic Republic Of The | Group B Away match | ||||||
| Saturday 13 Aug 2011 | |||||||||
| 21:00 | Club Africain - Tunisia | GD Interclube - Angola | Group A Away match | ||||||
| 22:00 | Maghreb de Fes - Morocco | Sunshine Stars - Nigeria | Group B Away match | ||||||
| Sunday 14 Aug 2011 | |||||||||
| 15:30 | ASEC Mimosas Abidjan - Ivory Coast | Kaduna United - Nigeria | Group A Away match | ||||||
| Saturday 27 Aug 2011 | |||||||||
| 13:00 | Daring Club Motema Pembe - Congo, The Democratic Republic Of The | JS Kabylie - Algeria | Group B Home match | ||||||
| 15:30 | Sunshine Stars - Nigeria | Maghreb de Fes - Morocco | Group B Home match | ||||||
| Sunday 28 Aug 2011 | |||||||||
| 15:30 | Kaduna United - Nigeria | ASEC Mimosas Abidjan - Ivory Coast | Group A Home match | ||||||
| 18:00 | GD Interclube - Angola | Club Africain - Tunisia | Group A Home match | ||||||
| Saturday 10 Sep 2011 | |||||||||
| 20:00 | JS Kabylie - Algeria | Maghreb de Fes - Morocco | Group B Home match
| ||||||
| Sunday 11 Sep 2011 | |||||||||
| 13:00 | Daring Club Motema Pembe - Congo, The Democratic Republic Of The | Sunshine Stars - Nigeria | Group B Home match
| ||||||
| 14:30 | GD Interclube - Angola | Kaduna United - Nigeria | Group A Home match
| ||||||
| 17:00 | Club Africain - Tunisia | ASEC Mimosas Abidjan - Ivory Coast | Group A Home match
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Maputo On Track for 2011 All African Games
Given just two years to prepare, the leader of the organizing committee for the 2011 All African Games told delegates that preparations were on schedule for the games in Maputo, Mozambique.
The logo for the 2011 All African Games in Mozambique. (ATR) Penalva Cezar, deputy director general, said that the main stadium for the games is more than half completed, targeted to be finished in November.
An aquatics center, two indoor arenas, tennis courts and a rowing/canoe venue are also on the to-do list.
The biggest project remaining is the athletes village, for which a construction company has just been hired. Underwriting of the project by the Mozambique government to the tune of $100 million has just been finalized, enabling construction to move ahead. The village will be used for public housing after the games.
The 10th All African Games are scheduled for Sep. 3 to 18. The program includes 24 sports and 6500 athletes and officials are supposed to take part.
This could be the last edition of the All African Games to be held under the banner of the Supreme Council of African Sports, a body composed of government sports ministers. Efforts are underway to transfer organization to the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa. But the move is a controversial one that is receiving push-back from the government leaders, despite an often problematic history with staging the event under the control of African governments.
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