Euro 2008, Global, South America

GROUP A: Finland v Azerbaijan, Poland v Belgium, Portugal v Armenia, Serbia v Kazakhstan

Poland will qualify if they beat an improving but inexperienced Belgium in Chorzów, while Portugal will be confident of a home win over lowly Armenia. The pressure is all on Serbia and Finland, who both know that failure to win will probably end their chances of making the Finals next summer.

Serbia host Kazakhstan, who can be awkward opponents but tent to get rolled over when they visit stronger nations. Serbia have a wide pool of promising young players to complement older names like Dejan Stankovic and Nikola Zigic. Finland have done well to still be in with a shout of qualifying but they face the daunting prospect of having to win in Oporto on Wednesday night, providing they can defeat Azerbaijan in Helsinki.

If neither Serbia nor Finland win, Portugal will qualify if they beat Armenia in Leiria, regardless of Poland’s result.

GROUP B: Lithuania v Ukraine, Scotland v Italy

After a superb campaign, Scotland find themselves one result away from qualifying through the undisputed Group of Death, containing both World Cup 2006 finalists and a further quarter finalist in Ukraine - a side on whom they may be relying come Wednesday night.

Italy may be the world champions but they have been unconvincing at times during qualifying, taking just one point off France and drawing their first match against Lithuania in Naples. Better results have come recently, particularly a fine 2-1 win in Kiev. Manager Roberto Donadoni’s biggest headache is who to play up front; or more pertinently, who not to play. Luca Toni is the star man, but Udinese youngsters Antonio di Natale and Fabio Quagliarella have both impressed, scoring crucial doubles on the road in Lithuania and Ukraine respectively. Both also scored in Udinese’s impressive 2-1 win at Fiorentina last Sunday.

Scotland have a fit squad, with Celtic and Rangers postponing last weekend’s SPL matches. They may be boosted by the date and time; 17th November at 1700, as 17 is an unlucky number in Italy. The biggest factor, though, will be the Hampden Park crowd, who will make the occasion a daunting prospect for the visiting Italians.

Ukraine travel to Lithuania unable to qualify, but if Scotland draw with Italy, a Ukrainian win on Wednesday against France in Kiev will allow Alex McLeish’s side a place in Euro 2008 at France’s expense.

GROUP C: Greece v Malta, Moldova v Hungary, Norway v Turkey

Greece will win the group if they avoid defeat in Athens against Malta, as they surely will, although as holders they are already guaranteed seeded status come the draw in Lucerne. The big game is in Oslo, where Turkey will need to win to keep their hopes of qualifying outside the realms of fantasy.

Turkey have suffered from having to play their first three home matches behind closed doors in Frankfurt following the trouble at the end of their World Cup playoff against Switzerland in Istanbul. Although the first two brought easy wins over Malta and Moldova, they struggled to save a draw against Norway without their partizan support and have looked nervous and erratic ever since. Defeat in Bosnia prefaced abysmal draws in Malta (2-2) and Moldova (1-1). Although they impressively won 4-1 in Greece, a 1-0 setback against their bitterest rivals in October in Istanbul has put them two points behind Norway, who are in good form.

Hungarian football cannot get out of the doldrums. They will be looking for a morale boosting win in Moldova but that is no certainty and they are set for another poor seeding in the World Cup qualifying draw a week on Sunday in South Africa.

GROUP D: Czech Republic v Slovakia, Germany v Cyprus, Wales v Republic of Ireland

Two ‘derby’ internationals await, with the interest of qualification long elapsed. The Czech’s host former compatriots Slovakia in Prague, while Wales meet Ireland at the Millennium Stadium. The Czechs will be happy having qualified and registered a superb 3-0 win in Munich but are now concentrating on winning the group and getting the best seeding status in the Euro 2008 draw. Promising young striker Martin Fenin could get another outing for the senior side after his wonder-goal in the Under-21 World Cup Final in Canada this summer.

Can there be a more miserable match in store than the one in Cardiff? Ireland travel with Don Givens serving as caretaker manager following the departure of Steve Staunton after the lamentable home draw with Cyprus in October. Welsh fans are far from happy either - the feel good factor created by impressive wins in Bulgaria (1-0) and Slovakia (5-2) was well and truly lost after their pathetic display in Cyprus and their laboured 2-1 win in San Marino. Their squad is weakened, too, by injuries to captain Craig Bellamy and their best young prospect Gareth Bale.

Germany host Cyprus, looking to avenge their embarrassing but ultimately meaningless failure to win in Nicosia last season. Their should be more outings for Joachim Löw’s crop of youngsters in Hannover and Germany remain among the favourites to lift the trophy in Vienna on 29th June.

GROUP E: Andorra v Estonia, Israel v Russia, Macedonia v Croatia

A crucial day for England and they’re not even playing. Steve McClaren’s side need Israel to beat or draw with Russia, or Macedonia to beat Croatia, to put qualification back in their own hands.

Croatia need just a point in Skopje to qualify and seal top spot in the group. Should they lose, England will finish above them if they can overturn the 2-0 defeat in Zagreb on Wednesday night at Wembley, regardless of what Russia do in their final two games.

If Israel can do England the biggest favour possible and beat Russia, England will only need to avoid defeat against Croatia to qualify due to their superior head-to-head record over the Russians (4-2 on ‘aggregate’). Israel are without their best player, Liverpool’s Yossi Benayoun, but Tel Aviv is not an easy place to go and win and Russia are not by any means among the strongest teams in Europe.

Estonia travel to Andorra hoping to end another miserable qualifying campaign with a rare win.

GROUP F: Latvia v Liechtenstein, Northern Ireland v Denmark, Spain v Sweden

Northern Ireland’s hopes hang by a thread despite their impressive performance in drawing 1-1 in Sweden last month. They must win both their last two matches, starting with Denmark at home. Their home form is strong and Denmark are having bad times at the moment, but a win in Spain - in a game which will be played in the Canary Islands - on Wednesday is surely too much to ask.

A draw in Belfast will see Spain and Sweden both qualify but a Danish victory could lead to a strange scenario in Madrid where a draw would enable both sides to qualify at Denmark’s expense. The only hope for Denmark is that Spain lose both matches, at home to Sweden and Northern Ireland, an extraordinarily unlikely turn of events.

Spain have turned things around after a bad start which saw them pick up just three points - a humdrum win over Liechtenstein - from their first three matches. They face Sweden with a squad without Raúl, whose relationship with coach Luis Aragonés seems to be irreparably damages, and Fernando Torres. David Villa, Espanyol’s evergreen Raúl Tamudo and Real Mallorca’s prospect Daniel Güiza lead the line but Spain’s great strength is that they have real strength in depth in all positions.

Liechtenstein travel to Latvia on the back of a fantastic 3-0 win over Iceland. Should they win, they will find themselves above Latvia and Iceland in the table with an improbable 10 points.

GROUP G: Albania v Belarus, Bulgaria v Romania, Holland v Luxembourg

Things are comparatively simple in this group. Bulgaria v Romania is a big cross-border rivalry but is set to be a largely inconsequential match. If Bulgaria don’t win, Holland will qualify even before they inevitably roll over Luxembourg in the evening match at Feyenoord’s de Kuip stadium in Rotterdam. Only a Bulgaria win and an unthinkable defeat for Holland against the group’s worst team by far would prevent Holland qualifying on Saturday night.

Holland have struggled in qualifying - they have not been scoring as freely as they should have been and relied on late winners to seal 1-0 wins in Slovenia and Albania. Ruud van Nistelrooy, however, is back in favour with Marco van Basten and should be hungry for goals against lowly opposition.

Albania’s target is to finish fourth ahead of Euro 2000 qualifiers Slovenia, whose fortunes have plummeted since their disastrous World Cup in 2002. A win over Belarus in Tirana will do just that, providing Slovenia don’t register an improbable win over Bulgaria on Wednesday night.

SOUTH AMERICA

Argentina look set to continue their 100% start with a home match over South America’s permanent also-rans Bolivia at the Monumentál in Buenos Aires. Colombia host Venezuela while Ecuador travel to Paraguay, with the sub-Argentina-Brazil race for 3rd, 4th and 5th place wide open.

On Sunday, Brazil travel to Peru hoping to perform better than on their first away match - a poor goalless draw in Colombia, while Uruguay and Chile, who both harbour realistic hopes of qualification, meet in Montevideo.

FRIENDLIES

On Friday night, England travel to Austria for a meaningless friendly, hoping for little more than a clean medical report and a morale-boosting win against a side so poor that some of their own fans are petitioning UEFA to withdraw their automatic qualification due to being co-hosts for Euro 2008. France host Morocco before Saturday’s matches see several African sides begin the preparation for the African Cup of Nations, which takes place in Ghana in the new year. Nigeria face Australia in Fulham, while Mali and Senegal meet in Paris and South Africa host the United States at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

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