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London. Slovakia should guarantee its first-ever World Cup appearance on Saturday, while the game’s most expensive player, Cristiano Ronaldo, might be left to watch next year’s tournament on TV.

Five points ahead at the top of European Group 3, the Slovaks need only a draw at home to second place Slovenia in Bratislava to make it to South Africa and create football history for a nation that evolved after the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993.

“Neither of us were favorites one year ago, but now everything has changed,” Slovakia coach Vladimir Weiss said of his own team and the Slovenes. His team is seven points ahead of prequalifying favorite Czech Republic, which has only a slim chance of a playoff spot.

“Only Slovenia have been able to defeat us in this qualifying campaign,” Weiss said. “But I expect our team will prove themselves by taking the last step. I trust my players.”

While the Slovaks could be celebrating, Ronaldo, Portugal’s FIFA player of the year, might well be facing the gloom of failing to qualify.

Portugal is five points behind Denmark in Group 1 and, because only the group winners are guaranteed a spot in the finals, needs to beat Hungary to stand any chance of finishing top.

But it could all go disastrously wrong for Ronaldo and his teammates. If they fail to beat the Hungarians and second place Sweden wins in Copenhagen, they can’t even capture a playoff spot by finishing runners-up.

European champion Spain, England and the Netherlands have already claimed three of Europe’s 13 spots for the World Cup finals in South Africa.

Saturday is the next-to-last round of group qualifiers, and Italy and Germany would like to make certain of their places in South Africa before Wednesday’s final matches.

Four points ahead at the top of Group 8, the Italians meet a familiar face when they go to Dublin to face second place Ireland.

The Irish are coached by Giovanni Trapattoni, who gained success at Juventus, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich but flopped badly in charge of the national team between 2000 and 2004.

If Trapattoni’s Ireland can beat Marcello Lippi’s Italy, then that healthy lead will be cut to one point and it will all be down to next Wednesday’s final round — Italy versus Cyprus and Ireland against Montenegro.

Germany’s visit to Russia is one of the biggest games of the entire European qualifying campaign. The unbeaten Germans are just a point ahead of the Russians as they head for Moscow’s Lukhniki Stadium, and a victory for the visitors will see them secure a spot in the finals for the 17th time.

Germany coach Joachim Loew said that his team “must be wide awake every second for 90 minutes” against Guus Hiddink’s Russians while also aware of what they can achieve.

“We are aware of the chance we have in Moscow,” he said. “We want to use this chance.”

Loew believes Arsenal forward Andrei Arshavin is a big danger.

“He does ingenuous things and is incredibly efficient,” he said. “So we must be wide awake and must never switch off.”

Serbia can qualify with a victory at home to Romania in Group 7 and that would leave France having to make it to South Africa through the playoffs.

The unpredictable French should prove too strong for the Faroe Islands at Guingamp on Saturday, even with Franck Ribery ruled out with a knee injury and Thierry Henry doubtful with a groin strain.

Coached by German Ottmar Hitzfeld, Switzerland hopes to reach its second World Cup in a row on Saturday.

A likely victory away to Luxembourg and a Greece-Latvia draw would guarantee the Swiss the top spot in Group 2.



Associated Press