The European champions qualifiers make their return tomorrow as the nations do battle for the 23 places in the finals up for grabs. Most of the groups are refreshingly competitive thanks in part to the expansion of the finals to 24 teams.
The tightest group is probably group D which features Germany, Poland, Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Georgia and Gibraltar. At this stage its probably safe to assume that both Gibraltar and Georgia are out of the running for finals places which leaves a four way tussle for two automatic final places and one play-off spot. Poland currently lead the way with ten points followed by Germany, Scotland and Ireland all on seven. The pick of the games without doubt this weekend is Ireland v Poland. It's a massive game for both sides and an early indicator to who has more to offer in terms of qualification for the finals. Defeat for Poland will rein them into the tussle even further but should they win, they give themselves a great chance of a top 3 finish at least. Other games this weekend in group D are Scotland v Gibraltar and Georgia v Germany, one expects both Scottish and German victories without too much trouble there.
Another group with an interesting look is group B which was expected to be a Belgian landslide but that hasn't materialised. The red devils are 4th but with a game in hand. The pacesetters are instead Israel who incidently are the opponents in Belgium's game in hand. Wales are 2nd a point behind while Cyprus sit quietly in 3rd on six points. The big game this weekend from that group is Israel facing Wales in Haifa.
The last round of qualifiers in November featured some terrific shock results with the biggest being San Marino collecting their first point in Euro qualifiers against Estonia and the Faroe Islands were victorious in Greece. Be terrific to see the same kind of results again in this round but with San Marino away at Slovenia and the Faroe's off to Romania it'll be very difficult.
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