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Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has called up Liverpool winger Albert Riera for their World Cup qualifiers after the withdrawl of Sevilla's Diego Capel.

Capel, 20, had been struggling with a muscle injury in his right leg and failed to complete the morning training session. A later scan ruled him out.

Del Bosque turned to Liverpool's new recruit Riera, who has five caps and last represented his country in the 1-0 friendly win over Italy in March.

Italy play Estonia and Belgium.

Portugal, meanwhile, called up Chelsea midfielder Deco and Atletico Madrid's Maniche, only to send them back to their respective clubs following medial examinations.

Both players have missed recent matches due to injury and were widely expected to return to their clubs.

Lassana Diarra has withdrawn from the France squad ahead of the World Cup qualifier against Romania.

The Portsmouth midfielder is suffering from an inflammation to his left knee and will play no part in the match in Constanta.

The 23-year-old will also miss Les Bleus' friendly against Tunisia four days later.

Diarra, who has won 16 international caps, has established himself as a regular for France in recent months, starting each of their three games since Euro 2008.

His absence will come as a further blow to France coach Raymond Domenech, who is also waiting on the fitness of Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka ahead of this weekend's Group 7 clash.

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and winger Mauro Camoranesi have been ruled out of this month's World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Montenegro through injury.

Coach Marcello Lippi said that Buffon would be replaced in the squad by Siena goalkeeper Gianluca Curci but that he would not call up anyone else. Buffon's place in the starting lineup is likely to go to Palermo's Marco Amelia.

The world champions, already without a number of top players including Andrea Pirlo and Marco Materazzi, face Bulgaria in Sofia in Group 8 on Saturday before hosting Montenegro in Lecce on October 15.

Buffon will be out for around a month with a muscle tear in his right leg and will almost certainly miss Juventus's Champions League Group H match with Real Madrid on October 21.

Juve team mate Camoranesi also has a right leg injury with team doctor Enrico Castellacci expecting him to be out for 15-20 days.

Lippi, whose side were slightly fortunate to beat Cyprus and Georgia in their opening qualifiers in September, is also without Lyon defender Fabio Grosso and Juve pair Nicola Legrottaglie and Vincenzo Iaquinta through injury.

On Sunday he called up four uncapped players - Giuseppe Rossi, Simone Pepe, Christian Maggio and Fabiano Santacroce - but left out Juve striker Alessandro Del Piero.

Russia coach Guus Hiddink has called up newcomer Denis Glushakov and his Lokomotiv Moscow team-mate Dmitry Sychev for their clash against Germany in Dortmund.

The Russians, who also host Finland on October 15, have few injury worries. Defender Denis Kolodin is out for the rest of the year with an ankle injury while Lokomotiv midfielder Dmitry Torbinsky and Tottenham Hotspur striker Roman Pavlyuchenko have groin and ankle injuries respectively.

The latter has been ruled out for up to three weeks after a scan showed ligament damage picked up during the 1-0 Premier League defeat to Hull.

Belarus captain Aleksandr Hleb, who is nursing an ankle injury, said he doubt he will be fit to face England on October 15.

"The rehab is going well but I'm still not 100 per cent ready," the Barcelona midfielder said.

Belarus coach Bernd Stange said: "Right now it doesn't look like he will play against England."

Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has been given the green light by Nigeria to miss Saturday's 2010 World Cup qualifier against Sierra Leone.

Team official Emmanuel Attah said the Nigeria Football Federation has agreed with Chelsea for Mikel to be excused from the final group match in Abuja.

"The NFF and Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari have agreed that Mikel skip this game so as to concentrate fully on his club career," Attah said.

"We agreed to this because we want the player to fully establish himself at the club while also improving the working relationship between us and the overseas clubs of our players."

Portsmouth forward John Utaka and Ukraine-based midfielder Yusuf Ayila will also miss the Sierra Leone match as a result of injuries. Ayila has since been replaced by Olympic team star Femi Ajilore.

Nigeria have already qualified for the next round of the qualifying tournament for both the World Cup and the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.

They top Group 4 with 15 points from five matches while second-placed Sierra Leone, with seven points, require a victory in Abuja to stand any chance of also making it to the next stage of the qualifiers.

South Africa and Equatorial Guinea are the other teams in the group.

AFP / Reuters