International Weekend Preview

The Home Nations and the Republic of Ireland prepare to conclude their respective Euro 2012 qualifying campaigns over the next few days, writes William Geldart.

A familiar mix of hope, expectation and dejection sums up the journeys of those involved, with only England and the Republic of Ireland amongst that list still in with a realistic chance of reaching next summer’s championships, to be held in Poland and Ukraine.

Scotland have a herculean task to claim a play-off spot, relying on other results to go their way and having the unenviable job of defeating world champions Spain. In their own backyard.

Wales and Northern Ireland have resorted to type, and have nothing more than pride to play for.

As it stands, England need just a point from their final Group G match against Montenegro in Podgorica.

The usual ingredients of a tricky eastern European tie are there for this evening’s match. A hostile atmosphere and a pumped-up home team await the Three Lions.

With Montenegro facing Switzerland in another decisive game a few days later, it has been reported that new coach Branko Brnovic will rest a host of players who are a yellow card away from suspension.

Brnovic is preparing for his first match in charge at any level and will likely leave out defenders Milan Jovanovic and Marko Basa, together with the midfielder Nikola Drincic from their squad to face England, before restoring them to the line-up against the Swiss on Tuesday.

Juventus striker Mirko Vucinic will be available, however, and he has issued a rallying cry to his fellow countrymen, stating that his side fear no-one.

He was quoted in the The Guardian as saying: “Montenegro are not scared of anybody,” he said. “We weren’t afraid when we were at war, so we won’t be afraid of this.”

Meanwhile, The Mirror are reporting that England boss Fabio Capello is considering starting Manchester United’s Phil Jones at right-back to counter the threat of Vucinic, and the Italian could also hand Fulham striker Bobby Zamora a place up-front alongside Wayne Rooney.

Rooney has been attracting most of the pre-match headlines, owing to his father’s recent arrest for his alleged involvement with a betting scam. Capello has reassured the media that England’s talisman is fully focused on securing qualification for Euro 2012.

Scotland will be hoping to erase some of the gloom following the news of the aforementioned irregularities that centre on the sending-off of Steven Jennings during the SPL game between Motherwell and Hearts last season.

Manager Craig Levein is wary of any potential threat posed by minnows Liechtenstein tomorrow, as the Tartan Army descend on Vaduz.

The news that captain Darren Fletcher could feature in the match, after earlier being ruled out because of tonsillitis, should galvanise a squad that need to clinch all three points to have any chance of achieving a play-off spot in Group I.

The Scots edged out Liechtenstein in the return fixture courtesy of Stephen McManus’ 97th-minute winner at Hampden Park last September, to record a 2-1 win.

Levein told The Daily Record: “We don’t really need any evidence to show that if we are not at our best then we won’t be successful because the last time we played them we weren’t at our best and we struggled to beat to beat them at home.

“And if we put in a performance like that this time, we won’t beat them.”

While defeating Liechtenstein is by no means a formality, winning in Spain is a much sterner task. Defender Gary Caldwell is confident in the Scots’ spirit to see them through, and believes their underdogs tag could work in their favour.

During a media conference, he said: “Hopefully we find ourselves in the position where we are a point clear going into the Spain game and we can go there and try to beat the best team in the world.

“I think it would sum Scotland up that we go and do that to finally qualify.

“We can do it. We have done it in the past.

“We always seem to raise our game for the big nations and hopefully it can be a great night.”

Northern Ireland and Wales will be hoping to restore some national pride against Estonia and Switzerland respectively. Both also have the chance to seriously disrupt their opponents’ play-off ambitions.

The Irish face Estonia at Windsor Park this evening, boosted by the news that Kyle Lafferty and Pat McCourt could return to the side.

Nigel Worthington’s team have won only two Group C matches during this campaign and welcome an Estonian team in need of a positive result to have a chance of snatching a play-off spot from second-placed Serbia.

Northern Ireland still have the slimmest of chances of usurping the Serbs, providing that they lose both of their games and the Irish win both of their matches, including a final day away trip to Italy who have already qualified automatically.

Worthington’s main frustration before his team’s double-header has been the failure to make contact with Newcastle United’s Shane Ferguson as he attempted to draft the defender-cum-winger into his squad.

Rumours of animosity between the manager and player have surfaced, as well as talk of the player switching his international allegiance to the Republic of Ireland.

Gary Speed’s Wales side impressed during their recent win against Montenegro and narrow defeat to England at Wembley.

Although they have no chance of qualifying for Euro 2012, they could undermine Switzerland’s attempts at overtaking Montenegro to claim the group’s play-off spot.

Wales are set to face a talented Swiss team in Swansea this evening. FC Basel’s 22-year-old midfielder Fabian Frei is set to be handed his debut by coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, fresh from his recent goalscoring exploits against Manchester United in the Champions League.

Speed has an extensive injury-list to contend with. Andy King, Jack Collison, James Collins, Danny Collins, Joe Ledley and Robert Earnshaw are all ruled out of tonight’s contest and the game with Bulgaria in Sofia on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, the Republic of Ireland are desperate to clinch all six points against Andorra and Armenia respectively. Giovanni Trappatoni’s men in green have a fantastic opportunity to secure qualification for a major tournament for the first time since they reached the World Cup in 2002.

Group B is wide open, however, with Russian, Armenia and Slovakia all fighting for top-spot. The Irish sit two points behind Russia, who play Slovakia this evening before a routine home game against Andorra on Tuesday.

Ireland captain Robbie Keane has already been quick to warn his team-mates that they will need to ‘get back to basics’ to see off the Andorrans tonight and ignore the temptation to make any excuses for a poor performance and result.

He told the Daily Mail: ‘We can’t be worried too much about the pitch or the stadium. When we were younger a lot of us played on pitches like that and over the years we have become spoilt playing in great stadiums and on great pitches.”

Across the rest of Europe:

-In Group A, Germany have already qualified and it’s a straight fight between Turkey and Belgium for the runners-up spot. Turkey host the Germans tonight while Belgium are at home to Kazakhstan. Belgium then travel to play Germany on Tuesday while Turkey welcome Azerbaijan. The Turks are in second-place, two points above Belgium.

-In Group D, France and Bosnia-Hercegovina will do battle for top-spot and they meet in the final round of fixtures in Paris on Tuesday. Romania can still secure a play-off berth. Their last game is away in Albania. Prior to that, they host Belarus whereas Bosnia meet Luxembourg this evening and France play Albania.

-In Group E, the Netherlands are home and dry, leaving Sweden and Hungary to do battle for the play-off position. The Swedes could claim the one available best second-placed spot, awarding them automatic qualification. Hungary need to win their remaining game at home to Finland and hope that the Swedes falter in Helsinki this evening and fail to defeat the Netherlands in Stockholm on Tuesday. Basically, Hungary need to win and hope that Sweden don’t pick up more than a point.

-In Group F, Greece and Croatia are already assured of finishing in the top-two but in what order? Greece host Croatia tonight. A win for Croatia will see them qualify. A draw or Greek victory will take it to the final round, in which Croatia welcome Latvia and Greece travel to Georgia.

-In Group H, Norway, Portugal and Denmark could all still finish top. The Norwegians have to win their game against Cyprus at home and hope Portugal and Denmark draw their final fixture in Copenhagen having both failed to win tonight, at home to Iceland and in Cyprus respectively. Portugal hold the head-to?head advantage with Denmark.