It’s crunch time for the ten nations who are all still dreaming of a place in next years FIFA World Cup in Germany. Six teams from Europe will battle it out in three, two-legged play offs for three of the places at next summers finals. Spain face Slovakia, Norway will play the Czech Republic, and Switzerland v turkey completes the European ties. The two remaining ties are a much more global affair. Trinidad and Tobago take on Bahrain, and once again, in a repeat of the play-offs for the 2002 World Cup finals in Korea/Japan, Uruguay take on Australia.

These two -legged games of Russian roulette decide a nations footballing destiny, and there will be nerves aplenty as these ten nations battle it out for a place in Germany. Spain will be favourites to triumph in their match up against Slovakia, and the Czech Republic will also be fancied to come through their games with Norway. These two are certainly teams who expect to play in world cups and for Spain it would be the first time they had failed to Qualify for a world cup since 1974 if they slip up against a decent Slovakian team.

The other match up in Europe sees Switzerland take on Turkey. This one is harder to call, although it’s fair to say that one team is on the up and the other on it’s way down. Although still a good side, in recent times the Turks have failed to reach the heights of the last World Cup, where they got to the semi finals, while the Swiss are very much an improving side. This one promises to be tight, although the greater home advantage might be enjoyed by Turkey, as the Swiss will have to perform in the famous hostile atmosphere of Istanbul in the second leg.

Elsewhere Australia will hope to avoid a repeat of the play-offs in 2001 when they lost to Uruguay, and Trinidad and Tobago will be gunning for their first appearance at a World Cup as they take on Bahrain who have reached this stage after the controversial replayed match against Uzbekistan.

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