Another of Australia's World Cup hopefuls is missing game time at club level because of a niggling injury.

Nagoya Grampus forward Josh Kennedy was forced out of his side's midweek J-League loss to Sanfrecce Hiroshima because of a troublesome back problem .

The niggle has been worrying Kennedy for some time but it is believed to be more of a maintenance issue as opposed to anything potentially debilitating.

Nagoya officials expect him to be right to face Cerezo Osaka on the weekend but it is not an ideal situation for the Socceroos who currently have a number of first team players out of action because of various injury problems.