On Saturday England play a friendly against Slovenia at Wembley in preparation for their important world cup qualifier against Croatia the following Wednesday. Slovenia are third in their world cup group behind Poland & Northern Ireland on 11 points. In their last game they beat San Marino 5-0 to record their third biggest ever win. As Poland beat the same opposition 10-0 earlier in the group this does not represent much. However, they only lost 1-0 to Northern Ireland in their previous game so I expect England to take a while to break them down. In fact I can see this game being closer than some people might be predicting. Slovenia are a difficult side to play against & just because they are a small country with fewer resources than the likes of England does not mean that they can't put out a good football team. I can't see England getting more than three goals against them & to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if they only score the two. A three nil victory to England.

Result Prediction: England to beat Slovenia @ 1/6 with bet365.

Score Prediction: 3-0 to England @ 6/1 with bet365.

Onto the more important game on Wednesday night when England host Croatia at Wembley. As we all know England beat Croatia 4-1 away earlier in the group, which nailed down any concerns England fans may have had about their side qualifying for South Africa next Summer. It was only last year that England lost 2-3 at home to Croatia & in so doing lost out on qualifying for Euro 2008. That result did as a favour as we lost Steve McClaren as manager. Since then England have had some good results under Fabio Capello & sit proudly on top of Group 6. The game against Croatia will be far from easy as Croatia are a good side but we will be out for revenge. It would not be the end of the world if we only drew but I am going to predict a narrow 2-1 win for England which will almost certainly confirm that we will be playing in South Africa Next summer where we will of course go out in the quarter finals on penalties.

Result Prediction: England to beat Croatia @ 8/13 with bet365.

Score Prediction: 2-1 to England @ 7/1 with bet365.

Scotland are at home to Macedonia. This is a game that Scotland have to win as they are third in the group behind runaway leaders Holland (who have already qualified) and Macedonia. However, they are only behind Macedonia on goal difference & so obviously will go second if they can beat them. In their last game Scotland lost 4-0 away to Norway. This was a terrible result & it will be interesting to see how Scotland respond. As there is now only one place available in the group and a play-off place at that Scotland need six points from this game & their game on Wednesday against Holland. This I feel is a task beyond them. I feel that they will only draw with Macedonia and then lose to Holland even though the Dutch have nothing to play for.

Result Prediction: Scotland to draw with Macedonia @ 5/2 with bet365.

Result Prediction: Scotland to lose against Holland @ 13/10 with bet365.

Score Prediction: Scotland 1 – Macedonia 1 @ 6/1 with bet365.

Score Prediction: Scotland 1 – Holland 3 @ 20/1 with bet365.

Northern Ireland have the most interesting game of the weekend when they play Poland away. This is crunch time for the Northern Irish as they are three points ahead of the Poles in second place & if they can beat them then they will put some distance between themselves & Poland, especially as the Poles have a game in hand. Group three is very close with the top four sides separated by only five points. Northern Ireland are doing well however & their recent one nil victory over Slovenia was very welcome. They beat the Poles 3-2 earlier in the group & this will help their confidence no end. A draw I feel is the outcome but a very important draw. On Wednesday they host Slovakia in another very important game. They lost 2-1 away to Slovakia in the very first game of the group. They will gain their revenge with a very close victory. Will they qualify? Only time will tell?

Result prediction: Northern Ireland to draw in Poland @ 14/5 with bet365.

Result prediction: Northern Ireland to beat Slovakia @ 6/4 with bet365.

Score Prediction: Poland 0 Northern Ireland 0 @ 15/2 with bet365.

Score Prediction: Northern Ireland 2 – 1 Slovakia @ 9/1 with bet365.

In group 8 it is very tight as the Republic are second behind Italy by one point. They have played a game more but their very useful 1-1 draw in Italy might yet prove vital, especially if they can beat the Italians at home in October. On Saturday they travel to Cyprus where I expect them to win. Cyprus are out of the running for qualification with only five points to their name. The republic's last game was a friendly against Australia which they lost 3-0. This will have very little bearing on their performance or result against Cyprus. Their big game and the one of density for them is in October against Italy. A full house for that game methinks.

Result Prediction: Republic to beat Cyprus @ 17/20 with bet365.

Score Prediction: Cyprus 1 – 3 Republic @ 14/1 with bet365.

Good luck to all teams.

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