Sports

European Nations Gear Up for World Cup Qualifying

New coaches of England, Italy and Spain face relatively weak opponents on Saturday when most European nations embark on the road to qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

In his first official match as England’s coach, Fabio Capello leads his team against Andorra, just 182nd in the FIFA rankings.

Capello was hired to replace Steve McClaren after England failed to qualify for this past summer’s European Championship. The game will be played in Barcelona, Spain, where England was booed after a 0-0 first half against Andorra during a European Championship qualifier in March 2007. England won that game, 3-0.

England, which went 3-1-1 in friendlies under the former AC Milan and Real Madrid manager, is missing injured midfielder Steven Gerrard and striker Michael Owen, who was not called up. After Andorra, England faces a tougher test on Wednesday when it plays at Croatia, the team that eliminated the English from the Euro qualifying with a 3-2 win at Wembley last November.

Defending world champs Italy play at Cyprus, its first official match since losing to Spain on penalty kicks in the Euro quarterfinals. That defeat led to coach Roberto Donadoni being sacked and replaced by Marcello Lippi, who led the Azzurri to their fourth World Cup title in 2006.

Italy played to a 2-2 tie against Austria in an exhibition last month, its first game following Lippi’s return. Captain Fabio Cannavaro is back after missing the Euros because of an ankle injury.

Meanwhile, Spain — coming off its first Euro title since 1964 — will be missing injured players, including forward Fernando Torres (torn hamstring) and midfielder David Silva (sprained ankle) for home qualifiers against Bosnia on Saturday and Armenia four days later.

Under new coach Vicente del Bosque, Spain extended its unbeaten streak to 23 games with a 3-0 victory at Denmark last month.

After finishing third at the 2006 World Cup and second at Euro 2008, Germany opens qualifying at Liechtenstein without injured captain Michael Ballack, Torsten Frings and Per Mertesacker.

France, which failed to win a game at the Euros, will be without injured midfielder Patrick Vieira when it opens at Austria.

Georgia’s home game against Ireland, coached by former Inter manager Giovanni Trappatoni, was moved to Mainz, Germany. FIFA ordered the game be played at a neutral site following last month’s war with Russia.

Our “Soccer on TV” posting will return next week once league action from across Europe resumes.