Nigeria striker Emmanuel Emenike underwent knee surgery on Thursday and will be out for six weeks. En.Africatopsports understands that Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi is desperately seeking a replacement for him.
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“Emenike underwent a successful operation on his meniscus and will miss four to six weeks,†Spartak Moscow announced on their website.
Emenike has also been ruled out of his club’s last four matches of the Russian Premier League season. He will miss two World Cup qualifying games and the subsequent 2013 Fifa Confederations Cup in Brazil, according to Kickoff.com.
Keshi has now pencilled down Everton’s Anichebe alongside the striking duo of Michael Eneramo (Sivasspor, Turkey) and Joseph Akpala (Werder Bremen, Germany) as possible replacements for Emenike.
All three players have a similar burly physiological make-up and are capable of adding a lethal physical edge to the Super Eagles attack like Emenike did at the Nations Cup earlier in the year.
Nigeria’s busy summer will start with a friendly match against Mexico on May 30, followed by play back-to-back World Cup qualifiers against Kenya and Namibia on June 5 and 12 respectively, before opening their Fifa Confederations Cup campaign against Tahiti on June 17.
The absence of Emmanuel Emenike will be most keenly felt by the Super Eagles, who are level on points with Malawa at the top of their World Cup Group F.
After three matches both sides have five points, with only the top team in each group going through to the next round of qualifying for a place at the tournament in Brazil next year. n
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