Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo could endure an agonising night this Wednesday when he watches from afar as Portugal launch a final bid to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Ronaldo aggravated a right ankle injury in Portugal's defeat of Hungary on Saturday, a result which put Carlos Queiroz's side into second place and on course for the play-offs in Group 1 at the expense of Sweden, who trail the Portuguese by a point.
With Denmark already automatically qualified after their 1-0 defeat of Sweden on Saturday, Portugal know they cannot afford to settle for a draw at home against Malta, especially if Sweden beat Albania in Solna. An "upset" Ronaldo will not only be missing, Real Madrid have banned him from even travelling to support his colleagues from the sidelines.
He confessed that the desire to help his country overruled the fact he took the field against Hungary below par. As a result Real Madrid have lost their top goalscorer for up to a month. Group 2 is one of two from the nine in the Europe zone that, ahead of the final qualifiers, still has no automatically qualified team - the other is Group 3 where Slovakia and Slovenia are both vying for top spot.
Switzerland, who lead Group 2 on 20 points from nine games, have been speculating on the various possible outcomes if they fail to claim at least a draw against Israel and Greece defeat Luxembourg. Although the memory is 16 years old, some Swiss remember only too well when Israel stunned France 3-2 in a World Cup qualifier at the Parc des Princes in October 1993, a result which contributed to their absence from the 1994 tournament in the United States.
Switzerland host Israel in Basel knowing that even if Greece, who have 17 points, beat Luxembourg a draw should be enough to see them through as the group winners. But Swiss federation official Martin Trumpler, who has spent hours studying their rivals, has warned Ottmar Hitzfeld's men to underestimate the Israelis at their cost.
Switzerland's sixth win in the group from nine matches came last Saturday when they beat Luxembourg 3-0. Slovakia spurned the chance to secure automatic entry to the finals in South Africa next summer when they suffered a 2-0 shock defeat to Slovenia in Bratislava on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Croatia, who sit third in Group 6, seven points behind leaders England but only one behind Ukraine, travel to Kazakhstan for their final qualifier. A win there, coupled with a unlikely victory for Andorra over Ukraine, would see Croatia jump up to second place and into the play-offs.