Soccer Spain, England, Belgium unbeaten in their pursuit of Cup berth

B7

Stuart Condie
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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LONDON - European teams will be jostling for position today when most of them play their final World Cup qualifying matches for almost six months.

With only one game remaining this year, European champion Spain, Germany, England and the Netherlands are seeking victories to build comfortable leads over their qualifying challengers.

Only the winners of Europe's nine groups are guaranteed places at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Spain is one of just three countries with a perfect record from three qualifying matches and can go as many as five points clear if it stretches its unbeaten streak to 27 games at Belgium, which is in second place in Group 5.

"Spain have a winning momentum, and we have to make the most of it to build up the best advantage we can in the group," Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque said.

Del Bosque, who has guided his team to group wins over Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia and Estonia, is likely to recall Marcos Senna to replace Xabi Alonso as his team's defensive midfielder for a match likely to be tougher than Saturday's 3-0 win at Estonia.

Belgium is also unbeaten and is coming off a 2-0 win over Armenia. The hosts will make at least one change by recalling Ajax defender Thomas Vermaelen, who was rested on Saturday to prevent him from getting a yellow card that would have ruled him out of the match in Brussels.

"Spain is a whole other game," Belgium coach Rene Vandereycken said. "There will be certain changes carried out. Firstly because this is a different, tougher, more attacking opponent, and secondly because some players won't manage two games at this level in four days."

Like Spain, England has a maximum nine points from three games, but has defensive problems ahead of its match at Belarus.

Captain John Terry and fullback Ashley Cole are both ruled out because of injuries.

"It's disappointing to lose two very experienced players," England coach Fabio Capello said.

Victory for England could also give it an advantage of up to five points, which would be welcome after it missed out on qualification for this year's European Championship.

Germany's preparations for its home game with Wales (GolTV-Canada, 3:30 p.m. AT), which is one of 22 matches Wednesday in European qualifying, were disrupted by a walkout from backup striker Kevin Kuranyi.

But the three-time World Cup champions sit at the top of Group 4 with seven points from three matches. Wales is second in the group, but could struggle to contend with Lukas Podolski and Michael Ballack, who scored in Saturday's 2-1 win over Russia.

Greece, which was deposed as European champion this year, beat Moldova 3-0 Saturday and puts its perfect Group 2 record on the line against Switzerland (Setanta Sports Canada, 3:30 p.m. AT).

"This will be a totally different game," Greece goalkeeper Costas Chalkias said. "We've had a great start and now we face Switzerland, which has the same expectations as we do."

The Netherlands has a perfect record, too, but has played only two Group 9 matches ahead of its game at Norway.

In other matches, World Cup champion Italy hosts Montenegro, Portugal hosts Albania, and the Czech Republic hosts Slovenia.

The Czechs play at San Marino on Nov. 19 in the last European qualifier of 2008, while there are another three matches in February.

The next full program of games is scheduled for March 28.