Qualifying for the 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. He came back here as a much better player with more experience and he understands what it takes to affect the game in a positive manner. He's been able to do that, but he's a great guy who works extremely hard for his teammates and his work ethic is without question. Mr. Capello has recognized those qualities and that's why he is back in." With wins over Kazakhstan on Saturday and in Belarus next Wednesday the England team would be in good shape to qualify for the World Cup.
Defending champion Italy is dealing with injuries as Gianluigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi, Andrea Pirlo, Fabio Grosso and Marco Materazzi have all missed matches. Italy has called up Giuseppe Ross from Villarreal. "He's ready. I would have called him up before," Italy coach Marcello Lippi said. "He's 21 but he has a lot of maturity and international experience."
Portugal is looking to Ronaldo to get them going in Group 1. They lost at home 3-2 to Denmark and now really need to defeat Sweden and group leader Albania.
World Cup contender Germany will be trying for victories against Russia and Wales this week while France is in desperate need of a win at Romania if they want to make it to South Africa.
