England is a point away from cementing a place at the 2012 European championships, but the Three Lions will have to earn that point on the road at Montenegro.
That match is one of the few highlights among the day's European qualifiers, in addition to the anticipated matchup between Germany and Turkey. Italy-Serbia, Greek-Croatia and Czech Republic-Spain are all noteworthy games between quality sides.
CONCACAF World Cup qualifying continues as well, with teams looking to make more headway toward clinching a place in the third round. Favorites Canada, El Salvador and Guatemala are all in action, but they're all competing on the road, where points are more difficult to come by.
In South America, a few high-profile World Cup qualifying matches take place, including the Argentina-Chile bout that is sure to captivate its audience. The United States' opponent for Tuesday's friendly, Ecuador, is also in action, taking on Venezuela.
Here's the schedule for Friday's international qualifying matches:
FRIDAY'S INTERNATIONAL QUALIFIERS
European Championships
GROUP A
Azerbaijan 1, Austria 4
Turkey vs. Germany, 2:30 p.m.
Belgium vs. Kazakhstan, 2:45 p.m.
GROUP B
Armenia 4, Macedonia 1
Slovakia vs. Russia, 2:15 p.m., ESPN3.com
Andorra vs. Ireland, 3:30 p.m., ESPN3.com
GROUP C
Northern Ireland vs. Estonia, 2:45 p.m.
Serbia vs. Italy, 2:45 p.m., ESPN3.com
GROUP D
Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Luxembourg, 2 p.m.
Romania vs. Belarus, 2:30 p.m.
France vs. Albania, 3 p.m., ESPN3.com
GROUP E
Finland vs. Sweden (in progress)
Netherlands vs. Moldova, 2:30 p.m., ESPN3.com
GROUP F
Latvia vs. Malta (in progress)
Greece vs. Croatia, 2:45 p.m., ESPN3.com
GROUP G
Wales vs. Switzerland, 2:45 p.m., ESPN3.com
Montenegro vs. England, 3 p.m., ESPN3.com
GROUP H
Cyprus vs. Denmark, 2:30 p.m., ESPN3.com
Portugal vs. Iceland, 4 p.m.
GROUP I
Czech Republic vs. Spain, 2:45 p.m., ESPN3.com
CONCACAF World Cup qualifying
GROUP A
Dominican Republic vs. El Salvador, 3 p.m.
Cayman Islands vs. Suriname, 8:30 p.m.
GROUP B
Barbados vs. Guyana, 4 p.m.
Bermuda vs. Trinidad and Tobago, 7 p.m.
GROUP C
Dominica vs. Panama, 6 pm.
GROUP D
St. Lucia vs. Canada, 6 p.m.
Puerto Rico vs. St. Kitts and Nevis, 8 p.m.
GROUP E
St. Vincent and Grenadines vs. Guatemala, 3 p.m.
Belize vs Grenada, 5:30 p.m.
GROUP F
U.S. Virgin Islands. vs Haiti, 4 p.m.
Curacao vs. Antigua and Barbuda, 8 p.m.
CONMBEOL World Cup qualifying
Uruguay vs. Bolivia, 3 p.m.
Ecuador vs. Venezuela, 5 p.m.
Argentina vs. Chile, 7 p.m.
Peru vs. Paraguay, 9 p.m.
Friendly
Costa Rica vs. Brazil, 10 p.m., ESPN3.com
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What matches are you looking forward to seeing? Do you see any CONCACAF favorites tripping up in their matches? Who do you see winning the South American qualifiers?
Share your thoughts below.
Why on earth is Kazhakstan in UEFA?
Montenegro… wow!
So apparently Rooney was sent off against Montenegro?
I guess all of those stories about “Rooney will be fine” didn’t factor in, the man has never been “fine” in the temper department to begin with…let alone when his father is the main story in England for being arrested.
I don’t know about Spain – Sergio Ramos is a liability. You can never trust that he won’t try a bicycle kick clearance that will completely fail.
With Jones stepping into the back four today with Cole, Terry, and Cahill, England has a strong back line that can even create problems for opposing wingers going forward.
Although nothing is ever completely assured with Russia, I think it is safe to say Russia will qualify for Euro2012 from the top spot – just need 1 point from a home game against Andorra.
The only 2 that come to mind that are arguably close are Spain & Germany.
OT — While I doubt they’ll qualify since their last game is @Ireland. Gotta tip my hat to Armenia for putting in a quality showing. They’re right there in Group B.
The German passing in attack is approaching Spain’s level.
Is there a country with a better back four than Serbia? Ivanovic, Vidic, Subotic, Kolarov…pretty scary!
Argentina VS Chile will be good. Czech Republic and Spain will be good too. Portugal will kill Iceland. Great schedule for today and tomorrow.