WC Qualification Europe | Second round preview

Austria vs. Wales

This will be the second match of the qualifiers for The Dragons. They started with a magnificent victory against Moldova 4-0 at home! Gareth Bale showed a great form, becoming the man of the match. He assisted for the first goal of the game, scored with a header by Sam Vokes. Then, Joe Allen doubled the score just before the halftime. Bale, himself, scored twice by the end of the match, winning the three points for his nation.

The squad: Goalkeepers: Wayne Hennessey, Danny Ward, Owain Fon Williams. Defenders: Ben Davies, James Chester, James Collins, Paul Dummett, Chris Gunter, Jazz Richards, Neil Taylor, Ashley Williams. Midfielders: Joe Allen, David Edwards, Emyr Huws, Andy King, Tom Lawrence, Joe Ledley, Shaun MacDonald. Attackers: Gareth Bale, Simon Church, David Cotterill, Hal Robson-Kanu, Sam Vokes.

The biggest omission for Chris Coleman is Aaron Ramsey, who wasn’t included in the squad for the matches against Austria and Georgia, because the midfielder has a hamstring problem. Daniel Ward, the goalkeeper who is on loan at Huddersfield Town, has been in an impressive form from the beginning of the season. He has contributed a lot, his team to be lying in the first position after 11 rounds in The Championship.

The Dragons aren’t really successful, when playing against Austria. They have recorded 5 defeats, 1 draw and have won twice. But, the manager Chris Coleman has made his debut for the Welsh national team exactly against Austria and he has also scored in that match, helping his team record a draw! These two victories for Wales against Austria have been recorded when playing at home. The best result The Dragons have ever recorded the visitor to their opponents is a 1-1 draw in a friendly match in 1992.

Rep. of Ireland vs. Georgia

Republic of Ireland will be looking for a first victory in their qualifying group, after they finished with a 2-2 draw against Serbia in the first round. Jeff Hendrick gave The Green Army the lead in the 3rd minute, but the Serbians managed to turn things around and led by 2-1 with 20 minutes to go. However, Daryl Murphy scored his first international goal in the 80th minute to win the point for his team.

The squad: Goalkeepers: Darren Randolph (West Ham United), Danny Rogers (Falkirk) Defenders: Seamus Coleman (Everton), Cyrus Christie, Richard Keogh, Alex Pearce (Derby County) Paul McShane (Reading), John O’Shea (Sunderland), Shane Duffy (Brighton & Hove Albion), Ciaran Clark (Newcastle United), Stephen Ward (Burnley) Midfielders: James McClean (West Bromwich Albion), Glenn Whelan (Stoke City), James McCarthy (Everton), Jeff Hendrick (Burnley), David Meyler (Hull City), Conor Hourihane (Barnsley), Harry Arter (Bournemouth), Eunan O’Kane (Leeds United), Stephen Gleeson (Birmingham City), Callum O’Dowda (Bristol City), Robbie Brady, Wes Hoolahan (Norwich City), Jonathan Hayes (Aberdeen) Forwards: Shane Long (Southampton), Jonathan Walters (Stoke City)

Martin O’Neil has lots of problems with injuries in his squad. The scorer from the previous qualifier against Serbia – Daryl Murphy has received a calf injury. The manager was also forced to withdraw Aiden McGeady (hamstring problem), Keiren Westwood, Stephen Quinn (knee injury), Kevin Doyle and Anthony Pilkington. Marc Wilson of Bournemouth hasn’t been included in the squad, because he has missed lots of matches for his club.

7 victories in 7 matches for Republic of Ireland against Georgia, which goes to show that The Crusaders are one of the easiest opponents for The Green Army!

England vs. Malta

The home match against Malta will be the first for Gareth Southgate as a manager of the English national team. The former defender takes the team after the big scandal with Sam Allardyce. So, we will see whether Southgate can show us something new.

The squad: Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster (Southampton), Joe Hart (Torino, on loan from Manchester City), Tom Heaton (Burnley) Defenders: Ryan Bertrand (Southampton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Stoke), Danny Rose (Tottenham), Chris Smalling (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Kyle Walker (Tottenham) Midfielders: Eric Dier (Tottenham), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Michail Antonio (West Ham), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Dele Alli (Tottenham), Andros Townsend (Crystal Palace) Strikers: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Jamie Vardy (Leicester)

Marcus Rashford deserves to be given a chance. The young forward has shown a great form. Even though he has a limited playing time at Manchester United, he has scored 3 important goals for The Red Devils in The Premier League in only 326 minutes of playing time.

Anything but victory against Malta will be an extremely poor result! So, Gareth Soutgate must give a 100% and not underestimate the Maltese players, because a match like this may cost his job. England have recorded 3 victories in 3 matches against this opponent. The previous meeting was 16 years ago and we won 2-1 in a friendly match in La Valletta.

Northern Ireland vs. San Marino

A must-win situation for Norn Iron. Northern Ireland can’t afford losing points against the total underdogs San Marino. These two teams have met on the pitch twice (in 2008 and 2009) and Northern Ireland have won both matches – 4-0 and 3-0. So, the fans expect no surprises here. Moreover, San Marino have conceded 22 goals in their last 5 matches! San Marino have only won 1 official game in their entire history (a friendly match against Liechtenstein in 2004)!

The squad: Goalkeepers: Michael McGovern (Norwich), Alan Mannus (St Johnstone), Trevor Carson (Hartlepool) Defenders: Gareth McAuley (West Bromwich Albion), Jonny Evans (West Bromwich Albion), Aaron Hughes (Kerala Blasters), Conor McLaughlin (Fleetwood), Lee Hodson (Rangers), Michael Smith (Peterborough), Tom Flanagan (Burton), Ryan McGivern (Shrewsbury Town) Midfielders: Steven Davis (Southampton), Niall McGinn (Aberdeen), Oliver Norwood (Brighton), Corry Evans (Blackburn), Jamie Ward (Nottingham Forest), Shane Ferguson (Millwall), Stuart Dallas (Leeds), Paddy McNair (Sunderland), Matthew Lund (Rochdale) Forwards: Kyle Lafferty (Norwich), Josh Magennis (Charlton), Conor Washington (QPR)

Liam Boyce and Craig Cathcart have been ruled out of the squad because they have received injuries. Will Grigg will miss the next two matches for family reasons.

Scotland vs. Lithuania

Robert Snodgrass is the man in form for Scotland. The midfielder scored a hat-trick in Scotland’s previous match of the qualifiers against Malta. In addition, the 29-year-old player has found the net on 3 occasions in The Premier League this season. So, Snodgrass is expected to be the key player for his nation in the upcoming fixtures.

The squad: Goalkeepers: Craig Gordon (Celtic), Jack Hamilton (Heart of Midlothian), David Marshall (Hull City) Defenders: Christophe Berra (Ipswich Town), Gordon Greer (Blackburn Rovers), Grant Hanley (Newcastle United), Russell Martin (Norwich City), Callum Paterson (Heart of Midlothian), Andrew Robertson (Hull City), Kieran Tierney (Celtic), Lee Wallace (Rangers) Midfielders: Ikechi Anya (Derby County), Barry Bannan (Sheffield Wednesday), Oliver Burke (RB Leipzig), Darren Fletcher (West Bromwich Albion), James Forrest (Celtic), James McArthur (Crystal Palace), John McGinn (Hibernian), Barrie McKay (Rangers), Shaun Maloney (Hull City), James Morrison (West Bromwich Albion), Matt Ritchie (Newcastle United), Robert Snodgrass (Hull City) Forwards: Steven Fletcher (Sheffield Wednesday), Leigh Griffiths (Celtic), Chris Martin (Derby County), Steven Naismith (Norwich City)

Scotland have once lost to Lithuania in 2003 in a qualifying match. There are two more occasions Lithuania have left the pitch with a point, while Scotland have won 5 matches. However, Gordon Strachan’s players are the absolute favourites for winning the match and improving their chances for qualification at The World Cup.