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

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