5 November 2009
Lagos — The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has replaced injury-hit Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder Sani Kaita with Kalu Uche, who features for Spanish club Almeria, ahead of the November 14 World Cup qualifier against Kenya. Kaita is nursing a hamstring injury he suffered at his Russian club but was still included in the 23-man squad for the all-important World Cup game away to Kenya.
"Kaita is injured and has been replaced by Kalu Uche," Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) spokesman Ademola Olajire told Goal.com yesterday.
The other injury doubt for Nigeria, Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel, has said he will be fit in time for the match in Nairobi.
Several other players, including Ikechukwu Uche, Yusuf Mohammed and Adefemi Adebayo, are out through injury.
Nigeria have to win in Kenya and pray that closest rivals Tunisia slip up if they are to qualify for next year's World Cup finals.
Meanwhile,Nigeria Football Federation officials are making their own travel plans for Nairobi, after they were left unhappy with the seats allocated to them by the Presidential Task Force in an earlier arrangement.
The PTF had arranged for a chartered aircraft to take the team, supporters, media and other officials to Nairobi for the last 2010 World Cup qualifier.
But the NFF were allocated only 50 seats, to cover the 23 players, 11-member technical team and backroom team plus NFF officials.
The Glass House were not happy with that arrangement and have decided instead, to make their own travel arrangements.
A key NFF management staff was dispatched to Lagos on Tuesday to begin discussions with one of the airlines.
The Eagles are expected to leave for Nairobi on Thursday, November 12. Nigeria, two points behind Tunisia in the race to South Africa, need to win in Kenya and hope that the north Africans fail to get a win in Maputo.
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