Crucial weekend ahead for some big names

Whilst England have already qualified for the World Cup (and won it if much of the subsequent press is to be believed), many of football’s leading nations still have it all to do. The Football Blog takes a look at some of the sides for whom this round of international fixtures will decide whether or not they are going to South Africa next summer.

France

Having lost to Austria, drawn twice with Romania and managed slender 1-0 victories over Lithuania and the Faroe Islands, France will be left hoping for the play-offs at best should Serbia beat Romania in Belgrade tomorrow. The former world champions themselves have two successice home games against the Faroe Islands and Austria.

Coach Raymond Domenech’s ultra defesive approach has bemused many given the array of attacking talent at his disposal, further hindering a qualifying campaign beset by unrest in the ranks (Karim Benzema publicly admitted he does not try his hardest when in the blue of France). Unless they stumble badly, attention will turn to who they will face in the play-offs.

Portugal

Wayne Rooney may get his wish and have a Ronaldo-less World Cup, with Portugal currently lying in third place in Group 1 behind Denmark and Sweden. Ronaldo hasn’t scored in a competitive game for Portugal since Euro 2008, but they desperately need him to regain his touch against Hungary tomorrow.

Denmark will qualify for their fourth World Cup if they beats Sweden tomorrow, while Portugal need to win against both Hungary and Malta and hope the teams ahead of them to drop points in order to qualify. It has been a lacklustre campaign which has yielded just ten goals for Carlos Quieroz’s men – four of which came against Malta.

Argentina

Argentina go into Saturday’s qualifier against Peru on a run of four defeats in the last five games, and currently lie in the play-off position in the South American zone. Preparations for the game have hardly been ideal with Diego Maradona seemingly having a public crisis of confidence, although he claims his words have been misinterpreted.

A victory against Peru is crucial if Maradona’s men want to maintain any hope of automatic qualification, although realistically they must now be looking at their potential play-off opponents. A World Cup without Messi and co. is unthinkable for many, but they have got themselves into a situation which they will do well to get out of.

Germany and Russia

Group 4 is between leaders Germany and second-placed Russia, who meet in Moscow tomorrow. A point in Moscow will leave Germany needing to beat Finland, in Hamburg four days later, to secure qualification. But if Russia win, they can qualify with a subsequent victory in Azerbaijan. Which of the two will be condemned to the play-offs?

Guus Hiddink is quietly confident of his Russia side getting a result on the artificial pitfch at the Luzhniki Stadium, against a Germany side who have had a far from vintage qualifying campaign. Joachim Löw’s selection policy has been questioned by Gerd Müller amongst others, with striking trio Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and Mario Gómez all failing to fire in the Bundesliga this season.

So an interesting round of fixtures ahead, with Italy and the Republic of Ireland also meeting in Dublin to determine the outcome in Group 8. Let us know your thoughts and enjoy the games this weekend.