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Mandela, pleased it’s going to be in South Africa

World Cup 2010 Returns

Club football yet again takes a back seat this weekend as the international calendar resumes and countries take another stride on the road to South Africa in 2010.

Most of the talk in Europe recently has focused on the possible doubt over Poland and Ukraine's suitability to host the Euro 2012 but at the moment, it is going ahead as planned which leaves European football free to focus on the more immediate task at hand.

Sweden vs Portugal – Potential Cracker

Group 1 features a standout match with Portugal travelling to Sweden in a game which could go a long way to determining who qualifies from the group.

No team has maximum points from their two games as of yet with Portugal having to recover from a late defeat at home to Denmark in their previous outing. This makes it imperative that Carlos Queiroz guides his men to at least a point in Sweden, which will not be easy.

Sweden have a fantastic record of qualifying in recent years for the major tournaments and with Henrik Larsson still playing alongside the mercurial talent that is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, it is not overstretching the mark to say that Sweden can provide a formidable opposition to many teams. Denmark play host to Malta and Hungary face Albania in the other group games.

Group 2 sees leaders Greece host Moldova who have collected zero points from their two games so far.

All logic would indicate a home win with Greece heading for nine points but they may not find their task as easy as they would hope for. That said, five goals scored with the loss of none is an impressive for the Euro 2004 champions and they will be looking to continue their run of form.

Israel are tucked in behind Greece and they face a trip to Luxembourg, currently on 3 points after their stunning triumph over Switzerland. The Swiss will be looking to bounce back from that embarrassing result when they welcome Latvia to their country.

Poland Return to Football Matters
Poland will be looking forward to returning to action after all the political talk of recent weeks but they face a tough match against the Czech Republic.

If Poland remain top after this clash they will have thoroughly deserved to top Group 3 but Slovenia will be looking to stay in touch or even overtake the Poles. Northern Ireland travel to Slovenia and this is a match that will be definitely winnable for the Slovenians. San Marino face Slovakia in the other group match.

Germany are the current Group 4 leaders but they face Russia at home which could be an epic match in the race to South Africa. Russia lag two points behind Germany but have a game in hand and any positive result for the Russians will have them in good shape for automatic qualification.

Wales are at home to Liechtenstein in a match they must win for them to hold any hope of a play off place while Azerbaijan travel to Finland.

Spain Look to Continue Winning Ways
Spain have taken maximum points from their matches so far and the current European Champions should be capable of visiting Estonia and returning with all three points to maintain their lead in Group 5. Belgium versus Armenia is also worthy of interest in this group and the section is concluded with Turkey at home to Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Can England Maintain Maximum Points?
Group 6 sees Fabio Capello attempt for another three points as England play at Wembley against Kazakhstan.

The English are currently joined on six points by Ukraine, who face Croatia at home. With Croatia reeling from their heavy defeat to England, Ukraine know that a victory for them will create some clear space between themselves and a team who were strongly tipped to shine in this event.

Lithuania may be the current shock leaders of Group 7, with France and Romania trailing behind but in a short space of time, this group has already indicated it may be the one to throw up a few surprises.

The leaders travel to Serbia hoping to keep the top spot in the group with Romania versus France being the match between the two teams who were considered favourites before the campaign kicked off. A defeat for either side could prove disastrous, even at this early stage. Austria travel to the Faroe Islands hoping to add to their three points gained from France earlier in the stage.

Italy will defend their maximum points haul so far in Group 8 with a game in Bulgaria that could prove tricky to the Italians. Two wins do not tell the full story as Italy have been nowhere near their best in their group games so far. Georgia play host to Cyprus with at least one of these teams guaranteed to get off their mark for this campaign.

Holland’s Winning Start
Holland have full points in Group 9 but the Dutch have only played one game so far.

Their second match in the group sees them squaring off against Iceland at home, a match that is already looking vital for Iceland who just have one point from two games. If Holland wins, as expected, they will be looking strong for automatic qualification.

Another team with just one game so far in this group is Norway who drew with Iceland previously. The Norwegians make their second game away to Scotland where a full Hampden crowd will be behind George Burley's men. Burley had the look of man who was punch drunk when Scotland lost their opening game but they recovered from that hangover to triumph 2-1 in Iceland. Anything other than a Scottish victory will see them virtually eliminated at this early stage leaving the entire footballing nation with a massive headache.

The groups still aren’t taking shape as of yet but there are some teams who know they really must win this weekend to keep their World Cup dreams alive. There is going to be a lot of pressure on some of the nations this weekend so does not be surprised to see one or two shock results as Europe re-embarks on the road to South Africa.

by Andrew Reilly

for The Silver Circle at www.footballtip.co.uk

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