Moses Victor of Nigeria
The road to Brazil 2014 will take centre stage this week as domestic leagues take a break. The CAF qualifiers see African Cup of Nations champions Nigeria aiming to pick up three points against Kenya to solidify their lead at the top of Group F.
Nigeria lead the group on four points while Kenya are bottom of the standings on one point. The Super Eagles kicked off their qualifiers with a 1-0 home win over Namibia followed by an away 1-1 draw with Malawi. They have been successful in reaching previous World Cups, making four of the last five events.
No side on the continent can overlook the track record of the Super Eagles, nor their rich pool of quality players. They have been criticised for not dealing with the pressure on their shoulders sufficiently in recent times, but after triumphing at the 2013 AFCON, this new generation of players have surely disproved that notion and are one of the favourites to progress. Nigeria have climbed up 22 places in the rankings to 30th since their triumph – their best rating since August 2010.
Emmanuel Emenike of Spartak Moscow, who was the top scorer in the AFCON, has been left out of the squad due to injury. However, Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has recalled the experienced Obafemi Martins who has just announced he will join US MLS side Seattle Sounders from Levante in Spain.
Eleven of the 14 European based players named in the squad were part of the the Nations Cup winning team including the Chelsea pair of John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses. There were surprise call-ups for Ukraine-based winger Michael Babatunde and Portugal-based midfielder John Ogu while captain Joseph Yobo was dropped. Efe Ambrose of Celtic has been ruled out to serve his suspension resulting from an accumulation of cards in previous games.
Kenya are coming into this game full of confidence and looking for the win according to both their manager and captain in recent interviews. They are also coming off a 3-0 win over Libya in Tunisia last month. The east Africans are ranked a lowly 126th in the world and 37th in Africa. They failed to qualify for this year’s AFCON, losing on the away goals rule to Togo. They haven’t got off to a good start in the qualifiers with a goalless draw at home to Malawi and a 1-0 loss in Namibia. Captain Dennis Oliech praised the decision to appoint coach Adel Amrouche to coach Harambee Stars and pointed out that the players are responding positively to him.
They will be without Parma midfielder Macdonald Mariga but won’t be short of quality in the midfield with Celtic FC’s Victor Wayama pulling the strings. The Kenyan was superb for the Scottish champions in their run to the Champions League last-16, and he caught the eye of several Premier League clubs. Strong on the ball and skilful in possession, Wanyama could be the key for his team to earn an unlikely win here. Wanyama is among seven foreign based players called up for the high profile fixture.
Nigeria have always had the better of Kenya and have beaten them in all of the four recent meetings since 2007. Their last meeting was a friendly in 2011 where Nigeria won 3-0. The Super Eagles are tipped for another convincing win here.
