London, Oct 6: Four years after losing its final qualifier to miss out on the European Championship, England will look to make amends by collecting at least the point it needs against Montenegro to reach the 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine.
A draw against Croatia at Wembley would have been enough for England to progress to Euro 2008 but it lost 3-2, eliminating the team and costing beleaguered manager Steve McClaren his job.
If Montenegro beats England in Podgorica and follows that up with a victory over Switzerland on Tuesday, the Balkan nation would finish top of Group G and force England into a two-legged playoff.
“What it boils down to is that it's in our own hands going into the last game,” England midfielder James Milner said. “That's all you can ask for really. They'll have to come out because they need to win the game which I think will help us.”
Two more of Europe's heavyweight teams, France and Portugal, also have work to do to qualify for the finals heading into the penultimate round of group matches.
A victory over Albania is unlikely to guarantee France top spot in Group D, with second-place Bosnia-Herzegovina—which is just a point behind—expected to easily beat Luxembourg, the pool's bottom team.
France hosts Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday in its final match in the group.
Portugal will definitely be taken to its last match, even if defeats Iceland in Lisbon. The Portuguese are level on 13 points with Norway and Denmark, which visits Cyprus on Friday.
Defending champion Spain, Italy and Germany have already qualified as group winners, while Netherlands has also advanced because it is certain to either top Group E or finish the qualifying phase as the best runner-up of all the nine groups.
In the other two groups, Croatia will secure top spot in Group F if it beats second-place Greece away and Group B leader Russia could also make the finals with a win in Slovakia.
However, the Russians would then need second-place Ireland to fail to beat Andorra away, which is unlikely as the hosts have yet to pick up a point from eight matches so far.
Montenegro is unlikely to be intimidated by England's stars after holding Fabio Capello's side to a 0-0 draw at Wembley in qualifying last year.
“It will not be an easy game because the atmosphere, the fans, everything, will be really bad,” said Capello, who left experienced players Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard out of his squad for the match. “It will be noisy and intense.”
Switzerland is still in contention to finish second, trailing Montenegro by three points ahead of its trip to Wales.
The French have reached every major tournament since missing the 1994 World Cup, but their match against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday is likely to decide the group.
First, though, they have to beat Albania.
“Mental strength at the top level is crucial,” France coach Laurent Blanc said. “We will be under pressure to get something, that's a positive pressure. I'd rather have that than playing a match under pressure to avoid something.”
Blanc called up Bafetimbi Gomis to his squad after the Lyon striker became the top scorer in the French league with six goals.
Portugal is without injured defenders Pepe and Fabio Coentrao but their Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo will play against Iceland as Paulo Bento bids to maintain his unbeaten record in qualification since taking over as coach last year.
Like the Netherlands and Germany, Spain will attempt to keep up its perfect record after recording six wins from six in Group I.
The world champions visit Czech Republic, who are fighting for second place with Scotland, and Fernando Torres will hope for a return to the starting lineup after showing improved form for Chelsea in recent weeks.
His last goals for Spain came on Sept. 3 last year, when he scored twice in a 4-0 win over Liechtenstein, but coach Vicente Del Bosque overlooked the striker during the 6-0 rout of Liechtenstein last month.
“We still believe in him but there are others that are pressing hard for their shot,” Del Bosque said.
Both Germany and the Netherlands have each won all eight of their qualifiers so far. AP
