FCBARCELONA.CAT

31.03.2009 20:26

Last chance saloon for France?

Jesús Carrillo

There are seven World Cup qualifying games featuring Barca players this Wednesday and it’s Thierry Henry’s France who are most in need of a win.

Henry with France, Xavi, Piqué and Sergio Busquets with Spain, Messi for Argentina, Alves for Brazil, Gudjohnsen for Iceland, Cáceres for Uruguay and Hleb with Belarus are the Barca players on World Cup duty, as the qualifying stages for South Africa 2010 reach a crucial stage.

Must win game for France

Raymond Doménech’s team have no room for manoeuvre in Group 7 when they take on Lithuania in Paris. With Serbia way out in front of the group, France are currently two points behind Lithuania and a defeat tonight would leave them depending on the other teams in the group if they are to take second spot. Captain Thierry Henry looks certain to start the match.

Spain nearly there

Spain find themselves in a completely different situation, with 5 wins out of 5 and a win in Istanbul would go a long way to sealing qualification. Behind Spain, Bosnia (with 9 points) and Turkey (with 8), are battling for the runners-up spot. Piqué, Xavi and Busquets are all with del Bosque’s squad.

Brazil and Argentina both favourites

Brazil and Argentina are both favourites in their games against the bottom two teams in the Sputh American group. Dani Alves is in the Brazil squad for the home game with Peru, whilst Leo Messi is in La Paz for the game against Bolivia. The altitude looks like being Argentina’s main problem, with the La Paz stadium almost 4,000 metres.

Uruguay aim to build on win

After seeing off group leaders Paraguay, Martin Caceres’ Uruguay have the chance to build up a head of steam and take a big step forward towards qualification for a tournament they missed out last time around when they face Chile in Santiago.

Gudjohnsen and Hleb, contrasting fortunes

Whilst Alexander Hleb is in Kazakhstan with Belarus, Eidur Gudjohnsen visits Scotland with Iceland. The two Barca players face contrasting fortunes at international level, with Belarus virtually out of the running in Group 6 and Iceland in with a chance of grabbing second spot behind Holland in Group 9 if they can take the points in Glasgow.