29.03. (Tue) 20:45 Lithuania - Spain

DID YOU KNOW?

* Lithuania are currently stranded in fourth place in Group I with four points from three matches, two points behind second-placed Czech Republic, who have played a game more.

* They have failed to win in five attempts against the Spaniards, losing four times.

* Their first competitive match against Spain was in Seville on February 24, 1993 in a 1994 World Cup finals qualifier. They lost 5-0.

* In the reverse fixture in the group last year, Lithuania went down 3-1 to Spain in Salamanca.

* Spain’s 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic in Granada on Friday evening saw them retain their 100 per cent record in the qualifying campaign and top Group I with 12 points from four matches.

* David Villa’s double on Friday made him the all-time highest goalscorer for la Furia Roja. He has 46 goals, two more than Raul.

* Only three members of Vicente del Bosque's squad play their football outside the Spanish Primera Division. Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Fernando Torres (Chelsea) and David Silva (Manchester City) all ply their trade in the English Premier League.

* Spain were placed together with Lithuania in the qualifying campaign for the 2006 World Cup finals. The current European and world champions were held to a goalless draw in Vilnius and escaped with a narrow 1-0 victory in Valencia, thanks to an Albert Luque goal.

LAST MEETING

October 8, 2010: Spain 3-1 Lithuania

Spain recorded a 3-1 victory over Lithuania in the reverse fixture at home. Fernando Llorente gave la Furia Roja the lead just two minutes into the second half and although Darvydas Sernas equalised soon, the Athletic Bilbao striker put his side back into the lead just moments later. David Silva wrapped up the points with his goal on 79 minutes.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Lithuania: Karcemarskas; Kijanskas, Skerla, Stankevicius, Radavicius; Semberas, E. Cesnauskis, Mikoliunas, Panka; Danilevicius, Sernas

Spain: Casillas; Arbeloa, Pique, Ramos, Capdevilla; Xavi, Busquets, Alonso; Navas, Villa, Iniesta

Prediction

Spain didn’t look particularly all-conquering against the Czech Republic last week but against a inferior opposition like Lithuania, Del Bosque’s team should collect the points with ease.

Lithuania 0-3 Spain

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29.03. (Tue) 20:45 Northern Ireland - Slovenia

DID YOU KNOW?

* Slovenia are currently ranked 17th in the world ahead of France, while Northern Ireland are ranked 40th, sandwiched between Nigeria and Burkina Faso.

* Slovenia have qualified for the European Championships just once, that coming in 2000 when they finished bottom of their group with one point behind Spain, Yugoslavia and Norway.

* Northern Ireland have never qualified for the European Championships but were just beaten to Euro 2008 by Sweden, a campaign that saw them beat Spain 3-2 at Windsor Park with David Healy scoring hat-trick.

* Slovenia are second in the group, ahead of Serbia on goal difference with both sides having seven points from five matches.

* Northern Ireland are fifth in the group with five points, two behind Slovenia, but have a game-in-hand on their visitors.

* The two sides have met three times in the last three years with Northern Ireland winning their last two matches 1-0 with Slovenia recording a 2-0 beforehand.

* In Group C, only Italy have conceded less than Northern Ireland. The Azzurri have conceded just the once – against Estonia – whilst Norn Iron have conceded three.

* Slovenia have won just two of their last eight European Championship qualifiers away from home.

* Northern Ireland have won five of their last seven European Championship qualifiers at home.

* Robert Koren will become the tenth most-capped Slovenian international ever if he wins his 57th cap on Tuesday.

LAST MEETING

September 3 2010: Slovenia 0-1 Northern Ireland

The two sides met at the Ljudski vrt Stadium in the first round of qualifiers, a match that ended 1-0 thanks to a solitary goal from Manchester United youngster Corry Evans after good work from his ex-United team-mate Craig Cathcart.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Northern Ireland: Camp; Baird, J Evans, Cathcart, Hughes; Brunt, C Evans, Clingan, Gorman; Lafferty, W Feeney.

Slovenia: S Handanovic; Illic, Mavric, Brecko, Jokic; Birsa, Koren, Radosavljevic, Kirm; Novakovic, Dedic.

Prediction

This match represents a must-win for both sides, but it’s more essential for the Northern Irish as if they lose this match they will be all but out of the running for qualification, while Slovenia have to win to keep just a slight amount of pressure on group-leaders Italy and to stay ahead of Serbia. The emphasis is very much on the hosts to attack their visitors and with Slovenia missing Bostjan Cesar, they are likely to be weaker than usual, however, Northern Ireland do not score many. It should be a low-scoring match but the home side can definitely pick up a much needed three points.

N. Ireland 1-0 Slovenia

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29.03. (Tue) 20:45 Belgium - Azerbaijan

DID YOU KNOW?

* Belgium are currently third in Group A with seven points from their five games but are unbeaten in the last three encounters.

* De Rode Duivels have won their last three away games, all by a scoreline of 2-0 but before that, they had lost seven in a row away from home and not won since their previous meeting with Azerbaijan, drawing even with Luxembourg in a friendly.

* Striker Moussa Dembele has had a mixed time of it against tomorrow's opponents - he scored in the 3-0 win in Brussels in 2006 with a rare header only to be handed a straight red card five minutes later.

* Azerbaijan are currently fifth in Group A with three points although they have only played three games, two less than Belgium.

* In their previous game, they stunned Turkey 1-0 to record one of the finest wins in the country's short footballing history. Captain Rashid Sadygov scored the winning goal six minutes before half-time.

* Azerbaijan have lost both times they have met Belgium, including a 3-0 defeat back in 2006.

LAST MEETING

November 21, 2007: Azerbaijan 0-1 Belgium

Belgium completed the double over Azerbaijan in their qualifying group for Euro 2008 thanks to a narrow one-goal victory in Baku. The winning goal came courtesy of journeyman striker Luigi Pieroni, who blasted the ball home from close range after managing to evade his marker.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Belgium: Mignolet ; Ciman, Kompany, Van Buyten, Vertonghen ; Simons, Defour, Witsel ; Dembele, Mirallas, Hazard

Azerbaijan: Agayev ; Melikov, Allahverdiyev, Abushev, Yunisoglu ; Shukurov, Amirguliyev, Chertoganov, Sadygov ; Nadyrov, Dzhavadov

Prediction

Belgium 2-0 Azerbaijan  

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29.03. (Tue) 20:30 Netherlands - Hungary

DID YOU KNOW?

* Hungary currently occupy second place in Group E of the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign with nine points from five games.

* Hungary have not qualified for a European Championships since 1972, when they finished fourth at the finals.

* Goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly is the most capped player in the current squad with 80 international appearances.

* The Hungarians hadn't lost since September 3, 2010 until last Friday's home defeat against Oranje.

* Star player Balazs Dzsudzsak is the only player in the current squad who plies his trade in the Dutch Eredivisie.

* Netherlands sit first in Group E of the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign with the maximum 15 points from five games.

* Oranje were eliminated in the quarter-finals in the last European Championship finals. Russia proved to be too strong in 2008 as they beat Holland 3-1 after extra time.

* Rafael van der Vaart is the most experienced player in the squad selected for Friday's game. The Tottenham ace has been capped 89 times.

* Holland were beaten only once in all of 2010. Spain beat the Dutch 1-0 in the final of the 2010 World Cup to shatter their dreams of winning the tournament for the first time in their history.

* Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has scored eight goals in four appearances during the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, but won't play on Tuesday due to a knee injury.

* Shot-stopper Jelle Ten Rouwelaar will make his Netherlands debut if he gets playing time.

LAST MEETING

March 25, 2011: Hungary 0-4 Netherlands

The two sides last met in Budapest last Friday and Holland cruised to a comfortable 4-0 away win. Hungary started the match with attacking intentions, but they were simply unable to contain Oranje. Goals from Rafael van der Vaart, Ibrahim Afellay, Dirk Kuyt and Robin van Persie helped the World Cup finalists to the full three points.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Netherlands: Vorm; Van der Wiel, Heitinga, Mathijsen, Pieters; De Jong, Van der Vaart; Kuyt, Sneijder, Afellay; Van Persie

Hungary: Kiraly; Lazar, Vanczak, Juhasz, Laczko; Varga, Vadocz; Gera, Koman, Dzsudzsak; Rudolf

Prediction

Holland put in an impressive performance against the Hungaryans last Friday and recorded a comfortable 4-0 away win. Things probably won't be that easy again for Oranje as Hungary are expected to 'park the bus' on Tuesday evening. Nevertheless, Netherlands have the class to pick up the full three points again and will make it a perfect 18 points from six games.

Netherlands 2-0 Hungary

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29.03. (Tue) 20:30 Estonia - Serbia

DID YOU KNOW?

* Estonia are currently fourth in Group H with six points from their four games, with two wins and two draws.

* Uruguay were the most recent opponents for Tarmo Ruutli's side in a friendly last week in Tallinn, which saw the home side triumph 2-0 in some rather unfamiliar conditions for the World Cup semi-finalists.

* National team captain Raio Piiroja, who plays at centre-half, notched up his century of caps against Uruguay. He made his debut in 1998 and has scored eight goals for his country.

* Serbia are currently in third place in Group B with seven points from their five matches after Friday night's 2-1 win over Northern Ireland.

* Serbian teams have won all four two-legged affairs in European club competitions against Estonian sides.

* The side's shock defeat to Estonia in their last, and only, meeting to date heralded the sacking of Radomir Antic as head coach. The former Barcelona tactician was replaced by Vladimir Petrovic.


LAST MEETING

October 8, 2010: Serbia 1-3 Estonia

Estonia pulled off perhaps the greatest result in their history with a stunning 3-1 win in Belgrade, which came despite the Baltic side falling behind to a Nikola Zigic opener. Tarmo Kink and Konstantin Vassiljev scored twice in the space of ten second-half minutes to mount a fine comeback before Aleksandr Lukovic's injury time own goal put the icing on the cake.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Estonia: Pareiko ; Sidorenkov, Rahn, Piiroja, Jaager ; Dmitrijev, Puri, Vassijlev, Kruglov ; Kink, Saag

Serbia: Brkic ; Ivanovic, Subotic, Bisevac, Kolarov ; Krasic, Milijas, Ninkovic, Tosic ; Ljajic ; Jovanovic

Prediction

Estonia 1-2 Serbia  

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29.03. (Tue) 19:30 Turkey - Austria

DID YOU KNOW?

* Turkey are currently fourth in Group A with six points from their four matches thus far, with two wins and as many defeats.

* Guus Hiddink's men have gone four games without a win, suffering away defeats to Germany and Azerbaijan in the group and to Hiddink's countrymen the Netherlands in a friendly last November.

* Since Arda Turan's winning goal in the 3-2 win over Belgium, Turkey have gone 372 minutes without finding the back of the net.

* Austria lie in second spot in Group A behind runaway leaders Germany with seven points from four matches as they bid to qualify for their second successive European Championship.

* Like their opponents tomorrow, Austria have also lost to the Netherlands in recent times, losing 3-1 in a friendly last month.

* Austria have only ever won once away to Turkey - in October 1977 during the qualifying campaign for the 1978 World Cup. They have lost on each of their further three trips to Turkey, in 1983, 1989 and 2001.

LAST MEETING

November 19, 2008: Austria 2-4 Turkey

Wolfsburg striker Tuncay was the star of the show in the previous meeting between these two sides, which was in a friendly. After Andreas Hoezl's opener had been cancelled out by Mehmet Aurelio, the then Middlesbrough man struck a hat-trick in twenty minutes, interrupted only by Hoezl's second goal on 53 minutes, which gave the home side some hope.


PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Turkey: Demirel ; Gonul, Gungor, Servet, Balta ; Mehmet Topal, Ekici ; Hamit Altintop, Selcuk Inan, Arda Turan ; Cenk Tosun

Austria: Macho ; Dag, Dragovic, Pogatetz, Fuchs ; Baumgartlinger, Alaba ; Harnik, Junuzovic, Arnautovic ; Janko

Prediction

Turkey 2-0 Austria 

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29.03. (Tue) 17:30 Czech - Liechtenstein

DID YOU KNOW?

* The Czech Republic are second in Group I with six points from four matches, six points behind group leaders Spain and just two ahead of both Scotland and Lithuania.

* They were finalists at Euro ‘96, their first major finals as a separate country. They reached the semi-finals at Euro 2004.

* Michal Bilek’s side have scored four goals and conceded three so far in the qualifying campaign.

* Liechtenstein are at the bottom of the group, having lost all of their three games so far.

* They have not won a competitive match in 14 attempts, their last victory coming on October 17, 2007 against Iceland (3-0) in a Euro 2008 qualifier.

* They have not won in 15 away games in competitive football, having last registered a victory on the road against Luxembourg (4-0) on October 13, 2004 in a 2006 World Cup qualifier.

LAST MEETING

October 12, 2010: Liechtenstein 0-2 Czech Republic

The Czech Republic won 2-0 against Liechtenstein in the reverse fixture at the Rheinpark Stadion. Tomas Necid put the visitors into the lead after just 12 minutes and then a minute before the half-hour mark Vaclav Kadlec found the target to wrap up the points.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Czech Republic: Cech, Pospech, Hubnik, Sivok, M. Kadlec; Hubschman, Rosicky; Plasil, Rezek, Pudil; Baros

Liechtenstein: Jehle; Martin Stocklasa, Michael Stocklasa, Rechsteiner, Vogt; Burgmeier, Buchel, Erne, N. Hasler; Beck, Frick

Prediction

A victory for the Czech Republic looks to be the most likely outcome.

Czech Rep. 4-0 Liechtenstein

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29.03. (Tue) 21:45 Portugal - Finland

DID YOU KNOW?

* Portugal are currently second in Group H Euro 2012 qualifying with seven points from four matches, three fewer than leaders Norway.

* The Seleccao drew their last international match. It was a 1-1 draw with Chile in Leiria last week as Matias Fernandez' wonder-goal on 41 minutes cancelled out Silvestre Varela’s opener after just 16 minutes.

* Portugal coach Paulo Bento’s first game in charge of the national team ended in a 3-1 defeat of Denmark in Porto in the Euro qualifiers.

* Finland are currently fifth in Group E Euro 2012 qualifying with three points from four matches, six fewer than second-placed Hungary, who have played a game more.

* The Eagle-Owls drew their last international match. It was a 1-1 draw with Belgium in Gentbrugge in February as Roni Porokara cancelled out an Axel Witsel opener for the hosts.

* Markku Kanerva was appointed the Finland coach in November 2010 and is actually a caretaker-manager at the moment.

LAST MEETING

February 11, 2009: Portugal 1-0 Finland

Under then coach Carlos Queiroz, Portugal recorded a narrow 1-0 victory over Finland in this friendly international. A second half Cristiano Ronaldo penalty proved to be the difference between the two sides.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Portugal: Patricio; J. Pereira, Rolando, Carvalho, Coentrao; Martins, Meireles, Moutinho; Nani, Almeida, Quaresma

Finland: Fredrikson; Raitala, Moisander, Heikkinen, Pasanen; Vayrynen, R. Eremenko, A. Eremenko Jr, Porokara; Forssell, Sadik

Prediction

A win for Portugal should eventually be the final outcome.

Portugal 2-0 Finland

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29.03. (Tue) 21:00 France - Croatia

DID YOU KNOW?

* France are on a six-match winning streak, stretching back to their first Euro 2012 qualifier against Belarus in Paris.
* Furthermore, that streak is something that Raymond Domenech never achieved in his tenure as France coach.
* Similarly, their last international friendly defeat was in Laurent Blanc's first match in charge last August as les Bleus slipped to Norway albeit with a makeshift squad following the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
* This match will allow Laurent Blanc to experiment with his side ahead of this summer's qualifiers with the likes of Laurent Koscielny vying to make his international debut.
* France laboured to a 2-0 win over Luxembourg on Friday night, with "Le President" blasting his forwards for not taking their chances.
* Les Bleus sit at the top of Group D following that win, stretching their lead to four points and a fourth straight win.
* France haven't lost to Croatia, winning three of their four previous encounters.

* Croatia head into this game at the Stade de France on the back of a surprise 1-0 defeat to Georgia at the weekend after a late goal from Levan Kobiashvili consigned them to a first loss in qualifying.
* They sit second in Group B after that defeat, a point behind Greece.
* That slip-up ended a 14-match unbeaten run for Slaven Bilic's side, which stretches back to a 5-1 defeat at Wembley against England in September 2009.
* You would have to go back an impressive three years for Croatia's last friendly loss, which came in a 0-3 defeat to the Netherlands in February 2008.
* Croatia will look to beat France for the first team in five attempts when the two nations square up on Tuesday night.
* Bilic's men are ranked eighth in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings, ten places ahead of France.

LAST MEETING

16 June 2004: Croatia 2-2 France (UEFA Euro 2004)

In this Euro 2004 group stage fixture, the then-reigning champions went ahead when Igor Tudor deflected in Zinedine Zidane's free kick. Croatia turned the match on its head after some questionable French defending. Milan Rapaic converted a penalty to equalise before a fine strike by Dado

Prso after a poor clearance by Marcel Desailly put the match in the Croat's favour. An ineffective back pass to goalkeeper Butina put him under pressure and David Trezeguet capitalised to side-foot into an empty net to salvage a draw.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

France: Lloris; Sagna, Mexes, Rami, Evra; M'Vila; Gourcuff, Nasri; Ribery Malouda; Benzema

Croatia: Pletikosa; Srna, Corluka, Simunic,Strinic; Dujmovic; Kranjcar, Modric, Rakitic; Petric, Jelavic

Prediction

France 1-1 Croatia

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29.03. (Tue) 20:45 Ukraine - Italy

DID YOU KNOW?

* Ukraine will co-host Euro 2012 along with Poland.

* Anatoliy Tymoshchuk has 103 caps for the national team.

* Ukraine are winless in their last five matches (D4 L1).

* Andriy Shevchenko is Ukraine's all time leading scorer with 45 goals.

* Italy beat Ukraine 3-0 in the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup.

* Mario Balotelli and Daniele De Rossi were left out of the squad for disciplinary reasons.

* The Azzurri have outscored Ukraine 7-1 in their last three head-to-head meetings.

* Giuseppe Rossi is the only player in coach Cesare Prandelli's 25-man squad who plies his trade outside of Serie A.

* Brazilian-born Thiago Motta scored the only goal of the game in Italy's 1-0 win over Slovenia in Euro 2012 qualifying on Friday.

LAST MEETING

September 12, 2007: Ukraine 1-2 Italy

Italy took the lead in the crunch Euro 2008 qualifier courtesy of Antonio Di Natale's goal five minutes before the half-time interval. Andriy Shevchenko put Ukraine back on level terms in the second half before Di Natale completed his brace in the 77th minute to give the Azzurri a crucial victory in Kiev.


PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Ukraine: Pyayov; Fedetskiy, Chygrynskiy, Rakitskiy, Romanchuk; Gusev, Tymoshchuk, Stepanenko, Aliyev; Yarmolenko, Devic

Italy: Viviano; Maggio, Gastaldello, Chiellini, Criscito; Montolivo, Marchisio, Nocerino; Aquilani; Rossi, Gilardino

Prediction

The hosts will field a strong starting XI against the Italians on Tuesday evening but the Azzurri have a good track record against Ukraine and should leave Kiev with a victory under their belt.

Ukraine 1-2 Italy

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29.03. (Tue) 20:45 Germany - Australia

DID YOU KNOW?

* Germany will be without skipper Philipp Lahm and Real Madrid duo Mesut Oezil and Sami Khedira after the trio were released early.

* Coach Joachim Loew has designated the Australia friendly as a match in which to experiment, with Arne Friedrich and Mats Hummels expected to start in central defence.

* Miroslav Klose has 61 international goals, seven behind Gerd Mueller's record. Should he appear, the Bayern man will equal Juergen Klinsmann's 108 international caps.

* Die Mannschaft have a perfect record in Euro 2012 qualifying, having won all five of their matches.

* Joachim Loew's 68.8 per cent winning record is the best a Germany coach has ever had.

* Australia finished runners up in January's Asian Cup after losing to Japan in extra time.

* The match will be a homecoming for coach Holger Osieck, a Homberg native who replaced caretaker coach Han Berger last fall.

* Australia have won six and lost just one of their ten matches under Osieck.

* Mark Schwarzer is the most capped player in Australia history, having made his record 88th appearance in the recent Asian Cup final.

* The "Socceroos" are currently ranked 21st in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings.

LAST MEETING

June 13, 2010: Germany 4-0 Australia

Germany began their World Cup group stage campaign with an emphatic win against Australia. Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose scored within the opening 26 minutes, and Thomas Mueller and Cacau netted midway through the second half as die Mannschaft hammered the AFC's top team.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Germany: Neuer; Traesch, Friedrich, Hummels, Schmelzer; Schweinsteiger, Kroos; Mueller, Schuerrle; Gomez, Klose

Australia: Schwarzer; Wilkshire, Neill, Ognenovski, Carney; Holman, Valeri, Jedinak, McKay; Kewell, Kruse

Prediction

Germany 3-1 Australia  

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