Time to focus on the action after a week of book revelations
Wednesday 8 October 2014 16:28, UK
It’s been a quiet week by football’s hectic standards with journalists denied any meaningful midweek action left to gorge on the juicy titbits of Roy Keane’s latest autobiography.
But all that is about to change with six consecutive nights of European Qualifiers: six consecutive nights of international football live on Sky Sports.
We had a fantastic start to the qualifying process last month watching Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland win away from home on the opening night; Scotland put on a tremendous show away to the World Champions; England win in Switzerland; and Wales overcome the plastic pitch in Andorra.
And it all means success in these back-to-back games could a long way to setting our sides on the long road to Paris.
Keane himself will be seated alongside Martin O’Neill as Republic of Ireland look certain to make it two wins out of two at home to Gibraltar before a visit to Germany next Tuesday in their most difficult game of the group.
Northern Ireland need to follow up their stunning late win in Hungary by putting away the Faroe Islands, which would give them the confidence to travel with expectation to Greece on Tuesday.
It’s already serious for Scotland who on Saturday face a home game they simply have to win against Georgia, followed by a fixture they could well win in Poland.
Wales too – without key midfield players Aaron Ramsay and Joe Allen - face huge home games against Bosnia and then Cyprus.
Two wins for Chris Coleman’s team would out them into a fantastic position to qualify even at this early stage.
And likewise for England – we’ll be showing extended highlights of their very winnable contests against San Marino and Estonia on Thursday and Sunday – anything but three wins out three would be a major surprise.
Across the six nights we’ll also be watching the evolution of Spain who face a genuine test away to Slovakia on Thursday and the best of the rest including Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy.
We’re guaranteed goals and a glut of great stories.
Sky Sports 5 HD is the home of European Qualifiers this week. See www.skysports.com/livefixtures for full details on all 48 games being shown.
