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The outstanding game of this month is the clash between France and reigning European and world champions Spain in Paris next Tuesday, with both sides tied on seven points at the top of Group I.

But both countries must first see off unfancied opposition tonight, as Spain entertain Finland in the northern city of Gijon while France host Georgia.
Vicente del Bosque’s Spain side must do without captain Iker Casillas and Barcelona skipper Carles Puyol as both recover from injury, and Xavi Hernandez is also struggling for fitness.

Nevertheless, they should still see off the challenge of a Finnish side that currently props up Group I.
“We are all aware that both matches against Finland and France will be finals for us,” said Chelsea and Spain winger Juan Mata.

“It would be an error for us to think about France because we have to win the first match.”
His thoughts echoed those of France coach Didier Deschamps, whose side play their first competitive match since a creditable 1-1 draw in Madrid in October.

“In our qualifying campaign, for the match against Spain to mean anything, we need first of all to win against Georgia,” he said last week, trying to focus his team’s attention on the task in hand.

Spain coach Vincente Del Bosque has admitted he fears France ahead of the two European giants’ 2014 World Cup qualifier at the Stade de France next Tuesday.
The world champions began their qualifying campaign as Group I favourites but having previously drawn at home to France, they run the risk of missing out on top spot should they fail to take something away from their Paris encounter.

And Del Bosque is not underestimating the threat posed by Deschamps’s team.
“Of course I’m wary of this match, I have a lot of respect for the French and right now there isn’t a big difference between the teams,” said Del Bosque.

“There are some great players in the French team, as good as in ours.”
France stunned the world and European champions in their previous group encounter by earning a 1-1 draw in Madrid.

And Del Bosque admits they deserved their reward.
“In the second half they were better. (Mathieu) Valbuena’s entry brought them a lot,” he said.

Ahead of the return leg in France, Del Bosque has yet to decide who will replace injured goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas.
Liverpool’s Pepe Reina and Barcelona stopper Victor Valdes are vying for the starting berth.

“They’re both experienced goalkeepers, they’re the same age and they offer the same assurances,” said Del Bosque.
Elsewhere, Germany will be hoping to maintain their formidable record in qualifying when they make the long trip to Kazakhstan in Group C.

Joachim Loew’s side play the former Soviet republic twice in the next week, with the match in Astana being followed by another meeting in Nuremberg on Tuesday.
Germany are expected to win both games, and the group, comfortably but will be taking nothing for granted after drawing 4-4 with Sweden in their last qualifier in October.

Their two principal challengers in the section meet each other today, with second-placed Sweden hosting the Republic of Ireland at the Friends Arena, where Zlatan Ibrahimovic memorably scored all four goals as the Swedes beat England 4-2 in a friendly last November.

Roy Hodgson’s England have little to win, and everything to lose, when they take on whipping boys San Marino on Friday before a much trickier assignment in Montenegro next midweek. The trip conjures memories of the meeting between the teams in 1993, when San Marino took the lead inside nine seconds before eventually losing 7-1 to Graham Taylor’s England.

Just scoring a goal would be cause for celebration for the tiny prinicpality that has never won a competitive match.
“I just checked up on them to see if San Marino have scored a goal recently but they haven’t,” said England goalkeeper Joe Hart. “Someone is going to concede against them and hopefully, if I’m playing, it won’t be me.”

That game is one of three in Group H, with the others seeing Montenegro – two points clear of England at the top – go to Moldova and Poland take on Ukraine.
Fabio Capello’s Russia will look to make it five wins from five games when they take on Northern Ireland in Belfast in Group F, and the Netherlands will be aiming to maintain their perfect record in Group D when they host Estonia. But perhaps the most intriguing – and certainly the most explosive –fixture will be in Group A in Zagreb, where rivals Croatia and Serbia meet for the first time since the Balkan War of two decades ago.

“It is football and not war that awaits us in Zagreb,” said Serbia coach Sinisa Mihajlovic, but tensions will still run high in a clash that carries much wider significance to the people of both countries.

In purely footballing terms, the match is crucial in Group A, with Croatia second, six points ahead of the Serbs.— AFP.