Qualifying for the Soccer Betting 2010 World Cup in South Africa continues on Saturday as a number of high profile teams are in action. Portugal welcomes back Cristiano Ronaldo while Spain and England look to remain at the top of their groups. France and Germany are in need of wins in their groups.

Spain is looking good with six points in European Group 5 as they lead Turkey and Belgium by two points. Spain has not lost in 25 games and will look to continue their unbeaten streak at Estonia and Belgium.

England has started World Cup qualifying strong and could remain unbeaten with wins against Kazakhstan and Belarus. Coach Fabio Capello has left Michael Owen off the squad for those two matches while recalling Peter Crouch and Shaun Wright-Phillips. Manchester City manager Mark Hughes was happy that Wright-Phillips was rewarded. “It is just reward for an outstanding start he has made to the resumption of his City career,” Hughes said, “He came back to a club he knows well, he is playing with a smile on his face and both Shaun and the club are benefiting from that.

Read more on Soccer Betting Preview: World Cup Qualifying Continues Saturday

World Cup champion Italy is in action on Saturday as they begin qualification for the Soccer Betting 2010 World Cup. Italy shouldn’t have any problems as they play Cyprus on Saturday and Georgia next Wednesday. Head coach Marcello Lippi is back to try and repeat the 2006 World Cup run. “Lippi has the same charisma and the same determination as two years ago,” Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro said. “We know that we have to qualify for the next tournament as defending world champions and we will have more responsibility.” Italy should also have Luca Toni back in the lineup on Saturday.

Georgia is a team that has had to change its schedule because of the problems back home with Russia invading. They will now play against Ireland in Germany. Captain Kakha Kaladze is not happy about playing a home game at neutral site. “I and many of my teammates continue to ask ourselves why this decision was taken,” Kaladze said, “There is no civil war in Georgia. We are not dangerous. What would happen if we played in the Tbilisi stadium? Nothing. It would only be a festival for thousands of people that are suffering.”

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Spain begins their World Cup qualifying at home against Bosnia-Herzegovina but will be without forward Fernando Torres who is injured. He will also miss the match against Armenia. He was injured last Sunday as he tore his hamstring while playing for Liverpool. Spain will also be without midfielder David Silva. Spain head coach Vicente del Bosque will be looking for a strong start from his squad as the Euro champs don’t want to run into any trouble in qualifying. “We want to give our best and change our mind-set because while the European Championship was very nice, it is already gone and we need to concentrate on the present,” Spain midfielder Marcos Senna said.

Read more on Soccer News: World Cup Qualifying on Saturday

HAMPDEN PARK, GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - The Scotland national football team needed to secure a win in order to advance to the UEFA Euro 2008 Finals. The home pitch advantage and the thousands of Scottish supporters in the stands were supposed to give them the boost that they needed when they faced 2006 World Cup Champions Italy on one of the last group stage qualifiers of the UEFA Euro 2008.

Prior to the start of the Italy vs. Scotland group stage qualifying match, Scotland had 24 points and Italy had 23 points in the Group B standings. France led Group B with 25 points. It was definitely a win-or-go home situation for both Italy and Scotland, and a win was most necessary in order to qualify. All the marbles rested on this one match.

It was Italy who first scored when Italian striker Luca Toni was able to make a goal in the 2nd minute following a cross from Italian team mate Antonio Di Natale. Di Natale provided a low cross which Luca Toni was able to strike to the roof of the net past Scottish goalkeeper Craig Gordon and give the Italians a 1-0 advantage.

Read more on UEFA Euro 2008 Betting Results: Italy Defeat Scotland 2-1 & Advance To UEFA Euro 2008 Finals

ust last month, the France national football team was looking dismal at third place of Group B in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying stages. With only the top two teams of Group B qualifying for the Euro 2008 Finals, it looked like France needed to produce some amazing football in order to keep in contention with Scotland and Italy, who were leading Group B at that time. A recent 6-0 away win against the Faroe Islands restored some confidence for France, and France was looking to carry over that momentum going into a tough match against Lithuania at La Beaujoire in Nantes, France.

The match had a shaky start for both Lithuania and France. France saw a lot more attempts at the goal of Lithuania during the first half through the efforts of Florent Malouda, Karim Benzema, Franck Ribery, William Gallas and Thierry Henry, but they weren’t to capitalize on their effortsto get past Lithuania keeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas. The closest France could get were hits at the crossbar care of Florent Malouda of English Premiership club Chelsea and Karim Benzema of French Ligue 1 champions Olympique Lyonnais.
Read more on Thierry Henry Scores 2 Goals For France To Beat Lithuania in Euro 2008 Qualifier

It was an easy match for the French national football team, who visited the Faroe Islands and beat them with an astounding 6-0 result.

Two goals in the first half of the match by French forwards Nicolas Anelka of English Premier club Bolton Wanderers and Thierry Henry of Spanish La Liga club Barcelona looked to be good enough to give France a convincing win against the Faroe Islands in Group B of the UEFA Euro 2008 group stage qualifiers. However, France kept the pace going in the second half and added 4 more goals to their tally in a show of football supremacy.
Read more on France Beats Faroe Islands 6-0, But Still Trail In Group B Of Euro 2008

There are exactly 4 matchdays left in the UEFA Euro 2008 Qualifiers, which means that there are points to be fought for, and eventually the top two teams of each group of the Euro 2008 Qualifiers will advance to the finals of Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.

In Group B of the UEFA Euro 2008 Qualifiers, we have a very close race. So far in the standings, Scotland is the group leader with 21 points closely followed by Italy with 20 and France not so far behind with 19. Ukraine has 13 points. Lithuania has 10 points. Georgia has 7, and the Faroe Islands have yet to score a single point.

In the upcoming qualifiers for Group B of the UEFA Euro 2008 for October 13, we will have matches between Scotland vs. Ukraine, Faroe Islands vs. France and Italy vs. Georgia. 4 days after on October 17, it’ll be Ukraine vs. Faroe Islands, France vs. Lithuania and Georgia vs. Scotland.
Read more on UEFA Euro 2008 Group B Qualifiers: It’s A Tight Race!

Chelsea: 1, Bolton: 0

Chelsea coach Avram Grant is finally putting a mark on the win column in their English Premier League campaign, beating out hosts Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium 1-0 over the weekend. The last time Chelsea won in an English Premier League match was back in August when they beat Portsmouth 1-0.

Chelsea’s European Champions League campaign is a little brighter with a recent 2-1 away win against Valencia. But then, Chelsea’s problems have really been in the Premiership where their most recent results include a 2-0 defeat against Manchester United and a home draw against Fulham.

Chelsea’s Salomon Kalou scored the lone goal of the match in the 41st minute, and that was enough to overcome a stubborn Bolton Wanderers.
Read more on Chelsea beats Bolton…

The Netherlands 2-0 victory over Bulgaria at the Amsterdam Arena saw goals from Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Wesley Sneijder who are also in the first squad of Spanish La Liga Champions Real Madrid.

Bulgaria had an unbeaten run in Group G of the 2008 Euro Qualifers, and sat on 2nd place for the longest time. In the 2008 Euro Qualifiers, only the top 2 of each group will be advancing to the final tournament which will be hosted with the combined resources of Austria and Switzerland. However, Bulgaria failed to maintain their unbeaten streak and lost a crucial game versus Netherlands, and allowed the Dutch national team to overtake them and steal the 2nd place spot. With just a few matches left in the 2008 Euro Qualifiers, the 17 points of Netherlands in 2nd place over Bulgaria’s 15 points in 3rd are looking good. Netherlands looks to be a sure winner against Albania in next week’s 2008 Euro Qualifer match. However, Bulgaria are also favored to win against Luxembourg, so the race for the second spot in Group G behind group leaders Romania who lead Group G with 20 points…[read more]

The last time Italy played France was last year in September 2006, just after the World Cup had finished. At that time, France came out with a 3-1 result, giving them retribution after France lost to Italy in the finals of the World Cup 2006. Last year, France in Italy clashed in the Stade de France in Paris, giving a home pitch advantage to France. However, in this week’s Euro Qualifier 2008 match, France will be visitors to Italy as the Italians host the French at the San Siro in Milan.

Apparently, Italy have not beaten France without the aid of penalties since 1978. In fact, Italy’s victory over France came from a penalty shootout. Italy hopes to improve on that statistic in their next match.

On the other hand, France will be without their head coach Raymond Domenech who has been given a one-match ban by the UEFA for comments Domenech gave in a newspaper suggesting that an under-21 international match in 1999 had been rigged…[read more]

Besiktas JK winger ?brahim Üzülmez has withdrawn from Fatih Terim’s Turkey squad for Wednesday’s UEFA EURO 2008 Group C qualifier against Norway in Frankfurt after being ruled out for four weeks with knee ligament damage.
The 33-year-old lasted only 19 minutes of Saturday’s 4-1 victory over Greece in Athens before being taken off. Galatasaray SK’s Ferhat [...]