World qualifiers are entering a crucial phase

Saturday offers 14 World Cup qualifiers in the “ Europe ” zone. The qualifiers on the way to the finals in Qatar have already been halved and some of the favorites have gained an advantage over their competitors in the individual groups, but others are experiencing difficulties and cannot allow themselves more wrong steps.

Bulgaria will try to recorded a second victory against Lithuania and first as a guest in the qualifiers. If they win the three points in Vilnius, the graduates of Yasen Petrov will keep their chances for the second place in group “C”, currently occupied by Switzerland . The Crusaders accept Northern Ireland and need mandatory success to close the gap with the leader Italy .

In group “A” the driver Portugal rests and can be overtaken by Serbia. Our western neighbors are unlikely to be surprised by their visit to Luxembourg, after losing valuable points against Eire in Dublin in September. The Irish have not won yet, but today they are visiting Azerbaijan, which is the other team at the bottom.

The situation is similar in group “B”, where the favorite is Spain has commitments in the final four of the League of Nations. Sweden can only get close to a point from “La Roja” with possible success in the home of Kosovo, and Greece is visiting Georgia and must win if it wants to stay in the battle for second place.

The world champion France has no competition in group “D”, but the other 4 teams have real chances for the second position. Finland welcomes Ukraine in Helsinki with the ambition to pull with 3 points ahead of its rival, and Bosnia and Herzegovina of Ivaylo Petev will be looking for the first victory since the beginning of the qualifiers when visiting Kazakhstan.

Group “F” is dominated by Denmark. “Red Dynamite” has six wins from six matches and a goal difference of 22: 0. If they do not make a mistake against Moldova in Chisinau, the Danes will take another huge step towards their ranking for next year’s finals. The outcome of the match between Scotland and Israel, which are separated only by a point in favor of the “bagpipers”, will be very important, and Austria will have to beat the Faroe Islands as a guest at all costs, so as not to drop out of the second position.

In Group I, the England leader will have an easy visit to Andorra, and Poland will have a smooth home game against San Marino. The key match is between Hungary and Albania in Budapest. The Albanians are second in the standings, with a two-point lead over the Hungarians, and even a draw today will suit them.