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Leeds United: Marques on cup alert
Leeds United expect to lose Rui Marques for most of January with the centre-back poised to represent Angola at the 2010 African Cup of Nations.
Marques is anticipating a call-up from the tournament's host nation and United are ready to release him for a competition which runs from January 10 to January 31.
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The defender was a notable absentee from the Leeds squad named against Accrington Stanley in the semi-finals of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on Tuesday night, and manager Simon Grayson revealed that Marques had been omitted to allow him to take part in a friendly between Angola and Portuguese club Olhanense.
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The fixture – staged in Portugal yesterday – is part of Angola's warm-up schedule for the forthcoming Cup of Nations and Marques is likely to be named in the country's final squad having appeared in the tournament
in Ghana two years ago.
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Grayson said: "Rui went to play in a game for Angola in preparation for the African Cup of Nations.
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"He's telling me that he's going to be involved in that, and Angola have arranged a group of friendlies over in Portugal.
"We've given him the opportunity to play in them because I wouldn't want him to miss out on representing his country.
"I'm not sure if he's actually had the official word that he's been called up (for the Cup of Nations) but I'm sure he will be."
The loss of Marques was a serious blow to Leeds in 2008, forcing him to miss a lengthy portion of United's League One campaign, but Grayson has four other centre-backs available to him and has not used the 32-year-old in a competitive match since the end of August.
Marques, who is out of contract at the end of this term, began the season as a first-choice defender, but an Achilles injury suffered a month into the campaign hampered him for many weeks.
He appeared on the substitute's bench for recent matches against Kettering Town, Oldham Athletic and Huddersfield Town, but the return from injury of Richard Naylor and Patrick Kisnorbo strengthened Grayson's pool of defenders.
The United boss was confident enough in his resources to allow Marques to join up with Angola's national squad while Leeds continued their League One and Johnstone's Paint Trophy campaigns.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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