Teams looking to consolidate

Trevor Huggins

Europe's group leaders will be looking to consolidate their positions on Wednesday in what should be a pain-free round of World Cup qualifiers.

A quirk of the fixture list has meant that most of the leading countries bidding to reach next year's finals in Japan and South Korea are facing relatively soft opposition.

Russia, three points clear of Switzerland in group one and playing in Luxembourg in midweek, are only typical among the front-runners.

Poland, five points clear of Belarus in group five and looking to be among the first European teams to qualify, face no-hopers Armenia.

Belgium must be relishing their game away to San Marino in group six, while Spain face Israel in group seven and 1996 European champions Germany take on group nine minnows Albania.

Italy, seven points clear of Romania in group eight and vying with Poland to be Europe's first team to qualify, have the day off.

Giovanni Trapattoni's men will instead be hoping for an upset when the Romanians travel to win-less Lithuania.

SAME SCENARIO

The scenario is the same in groups where three teams are at each others throats, with only one automatic qualification slot and one place in the play-offs to fight for.

Group two is the tightest of them all with Ireland top on 15 points, ahead of The Netherlands on 14 and Portugal, who have a game in hand, on 12.

The Irish battled Luis Figo's classy Portugal to a 1-1 draw in Dublin on Saturday, but should find life a lot easier in Estonia on Wednesday.

With the Dutch not playing in midweek, Portugal are set to move into second place after their match at home to Cyprus.

Bulgaria, equally unexpected leaders in group three, will defend their one-point advantage over Denmark and two-point lead over the Czech Republic in Iceland.

There could be a slight change at the top in group four, where leaders Turkey and Sweden, level on 14 points, are separated by a single goal and are both looking for big wins.

GOAL BONANZA

Turkey are at home to Macedonia, while the Swedes host an even weaker Moldova team. Top spot will go to any side capable of delivering a goal bonanza.

Other nations will be looking to keep the pressure on the group leaders in the hope that someone cracks when the qualifying turns nasty in the final rounds in September and October.

Sven Goran Eriksson's England are in Greece on Wednesday, ostensibly to defend their runners-up slot in group nine.

However, with Germany scraping a 2-2 draw in Finland on Saturday after trailing 2-0 at the break, England's hope is clearly of a draw or a shock defeat for the Germans in Tirana.

Croatia, who finished third at the 1998 World Cup finals, will go second above Scotland on goal difference in group six if they beat Latvia as expected.

In group one, second-placed Switzerland can all but claim the runners-up slot by beating third-placed Slovenia, widening the gap between them from one to four points.