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World Cup in sight for England and Serbia

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-10 09:11

MILAN: England and Serbia can move within touching distance of World Cup qualification with wins on Wednesday but Sweden's chances of reaching South Africa next year hang by a thread.

Fabio Capello's England chalked up their sixth straight qualifying victory with a 4-0 triumph in Kazakhstan on Saturday and they should have little trouble managing another regulation win at home to Andorra.

England will be without central defender Rio Ferdinand and midfielder Gareth Barry for the visit of Andorra but coach Fabio Capello should not be losing any sleep over this lop-sided World Cup qualifier.

Coach and players alike have stressed the importance of avoiding complacency against the part-timers from the Pyrenees but whatever 11 English players take to the Wembley turf a seventh consecutive Group 6 victory should be a formality.

Ferdinand missed the 4-0 win in Kazakhstan on Saturday with a calf injury while Barry, one of the scorers, picked up a yellow card that rules him out for Wednesday.

Andorra will park 10 men behind the ball at Wembley in a bid to avoid a thrashing, a game plan they employed to some success in Barcelona last year when they conceded just two goals against the Premier League's finest.

"Everyone expects us to turn them over easily," he said. "Sometimes that is not the case. We went to Andorra last year and found it difficult, and teams are getting a lot wiser, knowing how to play against the bigger teams, and making it difficult for us."

Andorra coach David Rodrigo said after Saturday's 5-1 defeat in Belarus that the team's passing had been poor and a big improvement was needed against the "powerful" English.

Victory would give the Group 6 leaders a 10-point advantage at the top and mean they would only need three points from their last three games to qualify.

Andorra coach David Rodrigo, feeling Saturday's 5-1 loss to Belarus, said: "It'll take a lot of effort to put the defeat behind us and confront the match at Wembley. England have players who can cause a lot of damage at set pieces."

The group winners in the European qualification section will reach next June's finals directly while the best eight runners-up from the nine groups go through to a playoff.

Ukraine can go joint second with Croatia if they beat the Kazakhs at home in one of only seven European qualifiers taking place on Wednesday.

Group 7 leaders Serbia will surge eight points clear of second-placed France if they win in the Faroe Islands having beaten Austria 1-0 in Belgrade on Saturday.

Raymond Domenech's team will have two games in hand, the first in the Faroes in August, but matches are fast running out to overhaul the Serbs who have lost only once.

Fourth-placed Sweden are 10 points behind Group 1 leaders Denmark after Saturday's 1-0 loss to their Scandinavian rivals and Wednesday's game against Malta in Gothenburg is a must-win.

"Realistically, we're setting our sights on second place and qualifying," coach Lars Lagerback told reporters. "We still have all the possibilities of advancing."

In other matches, Macedonia host Iceland in the race for second spot in Group Nine after leaders the Netherlands secured qualification on Saturday with a 2-1 win in Reykjavik.

Bert van Marwijk's side can celebrate in their home clash with struggling Norway while third-placed Finland entertain second-placed Russia in Group Four.

World champions Italy are in friendly action against New Zealand in Pretoria on Wednesday in preparation for the Confederations Cup, which starts in South Africa next Sunday.

Reuters