Match Preview: Nigeria vs Kenya
The Super Eagles of Nigeria take on their counterparts from Kenya this afternoon at the U.J. Esuene stadium, Calabar, South-South Nigeria.
The match, which is the third of the matches in their world cup qualifiers group, starts 16:00 hours Nigerian time.
Nigeria, which had appeared in four world cup fiestas in the past (1994, 1998, 2002 and 2010), are highly rated to come out victorious, especially coming at the heels of their newfound form that saw them clinch the highest trophy in African football at the recently concluded African Cup of Nations 2013 edition.
Nigeria parade full squad, save the exclusion due to injury of Emmanuel Emenike, their highest goal scorer at the Nations Cup. Former Inter Milan, Newscastle, Wolfsburg, Rubin Kazan, Birmingham, and Levante hitman, Obafemi Martins, has however been recalled to replace the injured Sparta Moscow forward. Celtic right back, Efe Ambrose, is the other Nigerian key player that will miss the Calabar clash.
Kenyan contingent arrived Nigeria on Wednesday amid complaint of poor treatment by the football administrators of the home side. The complaint degenerated into twitter war between the two countries.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
JOHN MIKEL OBI (Chelsea, Nigeria): The Nigerian midfielder is in the form of his life in the green and white jersey. His dazzling ball distribution was pivotal to his country winning the coveted trophy in January. The performance of Nigeria today will also depend to a large extent on Mikel’s supply effectiveness.
VICTOR MOSES (Chelsea, Nigeria): Mikel’s team mate at Chelsea, Moses, has established himself as fans’ favourite in the Nigerian national team, with his sublime skills. Moses, who won the Samsung Fair Play award at the South Africa tourney, has scored four goals for Nigeria in competitive games. He is expected to prove handful for the Kenyan defenders again.
VICTOR WANYAMA (Kenya, Celtic): Not many Nigerians know that Kenya parade in Wanyama a fantastic defensive midfielder that has scored against Barcelona, the best team in the world. Eagles will have themselves to blame if they underrate the Kenyans with Celtic power playing midfield maestro, Wanyama. Wanyama, brother to Inter Milan midfielder, McDonald Mariga, is on the radar of London clubside, Arsenal.
