I like those odds!

So England qualified with room to spare, as I always maintained

OK, technically we did need a point in the fortress of Montenegro - but that's relying on Montenegro winning in Switzerland, after they've already secured the play off - big whoop, it's been pretty straightforward, despite all the usual melodrama from the tv pundits - I predict a five or six point win in the end

Granted a stupid draw at Wembley with the Swiss was unfortunate, but otherwise the only hurdle has been the mighty minnows - and well done to them for defeating three larger nations in qualifying, they deserve the second spot - I look forward to a rematch in group H next year

Anyway, ignoring Rooney's latest drama and a whingeing Neville, let's look at one remaining set of fixtures

Five teams have now sewn up their groups, and Sweden and Montenegro have cemented their play offs

Group A is a bit of a doozie - Belgium lead but need a win in Germany to prevent Turkey taking the spot as they face the useless Azerbaijan -

My tips, home wins all round and Turkey to get second

Group B: Russia have effectively qualified with a point against Andorra required for the official victory, the real interest is in Ireland who only need to avoid defeat against third-placed Armenia

My tip: surely Ireland through to another play-off, at least a draw, if not a win

Group C: Only Serbia can make the difference here, only a win in Slovenia will knock off Estonia, who are waiting on results - you do care right?

My tip: Serbia at 5/6 ain't bad considering Slovenia's home record

Group D is a top of the table clash as France tackle Bosnia - avoiding defeat will be good enough, I'm tipping France to at least draw...surely

E is finished - I expect the Dutch will maintain their 100% record in Sweden, as neither have anything left to play for, I'm backing Hungary over Finland and Moldova over some minnows

F is tricky - Greece lead Croatia by two heading to Georgia for at least a point, Croatia should beat Latvia but can only win if Greece lose - otherwise it's as you were, Israel get three points in Malta

I expect Greece will win the group - even if they don't win the game

G, as I'm sure you know is done - I'm tipping Bulgaria over Wales and the Swiss over Montenegro

H is the fun group - three teams still in it, although Norway need some ludicrous scorelines to knock off Portugal, otherwise it's a straight top two clash - Denmark need to win at home to take the group, otherwise they'll be in the play-offs

My tip: I think Denmark might win, be a close game though - surely Norway will beat Cyprus, qualification is unlikely but they might as well live in hope

Group I: The much anticipated Spain v Scotland game dominates here - you can make up your own minds about this one - considering the joy around their sole away win in Liechtenstein I can't be that confident, but the hope lies in Lithuania, who have so far only been defeated at home by Spain and won in Prague - Scotland don't need to do a thing if they win, but if they draw the Czechs go through on head to head - I think the best bet for Scotland would be a draw in both ties

Good luck to them I say, been a while since Scotland had any luck - the odds from my title are 20/1 for the win, 7/1 for the draw, by the way

I think short odds on Czech republic are a bit harsh to be honest - the draw is a decent 3/1, and home win over 5/1 - not bad I think

2 places below France

Football rankings are a strange thing

A team wins 12 games in its entire history and rises to 17th in the world

Another team crashes out of a world cup with one goal scored, struggles against Belarus, Norway and Austria in the same period and is ranked 15th

Which is stranger? I ask you

Anyway, the fact remains that Montenegro, who were below Wales 18 months ago, were placed in the same pot as the French, and somehow we have got them again, only this time as second seeds as opposed to fifth...

I can only conclude that their impressive results weigh heavily due to their lack of competitive history, and that teams outside the top 20 really are quite bad

You would think this would be a good thing, avoiding teams like Russia, Serbia and France to play a small, familiar side who are unlikely to remain consistent

But alas, no, ever the pessimists we despair at being drawn with both hosts of the 2012 European championships

Really?

While Ukraine are certainly not the easiest team in the pot, and they did, as Capello pointed out, beat us before South Africa - we had already qualified at the time, and they haven't slipped to 45th for no reason (admittedly one being no competitive fixtures due to hosting) - they have won two games in the past year

It's clutching at straws - either we get a ridiculously easy group and we find it boring, or seem arrogant, or we don't and say it's difficult

How about we just say it's pretty decent? Would you really feel that much better had we got Switzerland again? They were also a decent side a few years ago, qualifying for more tournaments than Ukraine ever have, but their collapse in this campaign means we ignore that for some reason

Ireland, Czech Rep, Bosnia or Israel all would have provided a similar issue - it's the middle pot, and frankly any team would have done, Ireland would've been nice, but possibly a bigger problem

Truth is we should qualify, just as we should qualify for 2012 (and will) and just as we qualified for 2010, despite the hand-wringing

As for Poland, despite a decent showing prior to 2008, when they took top spot from Portugal, they really aren't a threat these days - by seeding standards they were the lowest available from pot 4 - would you really care if it was Romania or Bulgaria (Scotland)? Fact is, we got the lower ranked sides from every pot except Montenegro - and that could be seen as inflated and is a team we know

The less said about Moldova and San Marino the better

Nope, if there's anything to worry about it's the quality of England, not the opposition, the other Home Nations are the ones with the worry

Scotland and Wales did reasonably well being together - more chance of one being through, Croatia, Serbia and Belgium is hardly the group of death - I doubt either will come through, but it's much better than a five team group with Spain, the Dutch or us

Ireland get a tough break with Germany, but that's always likely to happen - battling it out with Sweden for second is probably a better prospect than their current campaign for 2012

Northern Ireland probably got the worst luck - Portugal and Russia are likely to dominate

Elsewhere, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain are all handed pretty straightforward groups (the only three I would rank as in any way better than ours)

France, for once, received some bad luck and are now trading on Spain possibly not being so good in the next two to three years...right

Group G for 'Greece', again shows the farcical nature of the rankings - how can a team that has won one match in a major tournament in seven years,  be a top seed - they are a self-fulfilling prophesy - they win 2004 so they get ranked highly, get easy draws as a result and continue to qualify because they never face opposition - what an amazing group as Slovakia and Bosnia battle the mighty Greeks for top spot...

Group E is just as bad for non-entities but frankly Norway deserve their position after sticking it to Portugal and being screwed out of the play-offs in 2010 qualifying

My predictions for European teams going straight to Brazil

Croatia, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, England, Spain, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia (that's my frivolous one)

Play-offs:

France, Ukraine, Greece, Russia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ireland, Denmark, Serbia - obviously one will miss out, but I'm hardly going to call it

Anyway, enjoy

It's time to qualify

...For one of those corrupt events, if you get my meaning

Anyway, my feelings about the laughable FIFA aside, England play Switzerland and finally may seal their qualification in what has been the longest drawn qualification process for yonks

Unfortunately only game five is being played, but should England beat Switzerland and Montenegro beat Bulgaria then it will officially knock out Wales and all but confirm the two top spots, simple as that

I don't see very good odds - Montenegro are not worth evens, they may win, but they are ultimately unreliable, despite their form

In slightly more fun groups, Germany have two away games in Austria and Azerbaijan, already with a five point lead two wins will effectively cement their obvious victory, personally I think Germany at 2/5 in Austria is pretty decent odds

Belgium v Turkey is crucial to these two teams - a home win is required to keep the Flemish in the hunt for second, this is a punt but Belgium at 5/4 is a reasonable tip as the Turks have been a bit off lately

Group B is typically Irish - three teams on 10 points after five games, Russia and Slovakia have pretty simple home games, the Irish need a result in Macedonia, to be honest it's not looking good with Russia having four home games left and Slovakia three

Group C is still open for Northern Ireland, Italy will cement their position with a win over Estonia and Slovenia have three to gain from the Faroes - that's it...two games (ok, three, but one is pointless)

The muddling French lead group D but still face the tougher tests, the trip to Belarus is probably the game of the round actually - I can dream, can't I? Belarus have won in France so I quite like 13/2 odds for the home side, they also have a home tie against Luxembourg, so that'll keep the pressure on

Bosnia remain in the hunt, playing Albania and then travelling to Romania - I doubt it'll come to anything, France are surely top two, but they do love to try!

The Dutch have won six of six, but have a rest and haven't got a huge lead just yet, but are surely group winners, San Marino will be handing three points to Finland and Hungary, Sweden are going to Moldova and then face neighbours Finland - grudge match?? Not really, second is Hungary or Sweden - do you really care?

Group F remains tight, and will remain so until the end - Croatia at 1/3 over Georgia isn't bad, Greece have their own banker, and arguably so do Israel, so it's probably as you were - Croatia and Greece all the way

Skipping to H, where Norway are ahead of Portugal, which is nice - all I can say is hooway the Norge! A draw would be very nice in Lisbon, Denmark are probably out of it at this point but should be able to beat their cousins in Iceland and may be able to screw over Portugal in October - worrying times for the greasy one even if they beat Noway

It all comes down to Denmark - assuming Portugal win all three easier games they will go in on 16 points, if Norway can beat Cyprus and Iceland they would realistically need a point in Copenhagen

Draw at 4/1 anybody?

In Scotland's mini-group there's a whole one game, Lithuania at 1/2 is not that bad, if uninspiring, Spain win the group, yay

Too funny

Gareth Bale...

Truly the Welsh are the most cursed of all Brits

Anyway, it's been a while since we've had some qualifiers, and frankly thanks to the small groups the number of games has been far too low - eight games in two years?

Still, we must make do

As I've said before, England's group is pretty much sewn up - Montenegro have left the door wide open for England, assuming they can avoid defeat in Cardiff (that's me being pessimistic)

Bulgaria play Switzerland in a technically crucial game for both - only the winner will come away with any chance, a draw would be virtual suicide - I'd favour Bulgaria for home form, they are physically tougher, but considering the only points either have got were from Wales there's not much in it

In Group A Germany have a whole round to play Kazakhstan at home (why?? Who negotiated their fixtures?) and continue on their road to full points

Austria will duke it out with Belgium and then go to Turkey, and Belgium get an easy three points at home in what should be a very interesting tight race for second...*yawn*

Group B is the Irish, who always seem to do their level best to fall at the last hurdle, they would do well if Armenia held up Russia, while they have a Macedonia game to not cock up a la England, Slovakia get three points in northern Spain/southern France

In the typically favourable Italy group NI have Serbia away and Slovenia at home, surely four points minimum is required, I'd fancy Serbia in Estonia and my money is on Slovenia when they host Italy

In group D France do their level best to secure a play-off just for the hell of it, but will, in yet another odd piece of scheduling, head to Luxembourg in their sole tie, it's the two away ties in September that will be their downfall - again with the weird fixtures, Albania v Belarus is a 'key' game, how interesting - Bosnia should get three off Romania, who themselves get an easy three off the minnows after

In group E it's all windmills and clogs as the Netherlands face a double with Hungary, I would like to see Sweden keep up with a win over Moldova

Group F is the one that shows the twisted process that is seeding...but anyway Croatia go to Georgia, Greece get three in Malta, do you care about Israel v Georgia? There's only two teams of note here

Skipping England to H - Norway remain 2 points ahead of the cheats with a game in hand - they play Denmark in a no-win situation for myself, I guess Norway would be a better result, Cyprus v Iceland is at least guaranteed to yield more points than the two teams have combined

Finally to Spain and Scotland in I, you may have noticed a welcome lack of Scottish news this week - mainly because they're not playing, should Spain win against the Czechs and then win in, gasp, Lithuania they will have effectively won the group, the Czechs can push on for second with a win over Liechtenstein - leaving Scotland with the unlikely task of at least winning their two remaining home ties in September

This rounds up the rather dull weekend of action

Wales can win...

Yes Gareth, Wales can beat England

Just as they could have beaten Bulgaria, Switzerland and Montenegro...or Ireland, Sweden or Croatia

For the sake of fairness they have won (or indeed, not lost) one game during that time - Luxembourg!!

Ttuly, they are capable of anything on their day