International Reds: Manchester United Players On Duty Tonight

Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck should be part of England's bid to seal a place at next year's World Cup in Brazil on Tuesday, but they're not the only Manchester United players in action during this final round of matches to decide the automatic qualification places.

 

 

Roy Hodgson could name several United stars in his team for the meeting with Poland at Wembley, which England must win to ensure they will be in Brazil without the need for a two-legged play-off. Kyle Walker's suspension means the right-back berth will be up for grabs, and Hodgson could opt for either Phil Jones or Chris Smalling, with both Reds having considerable experience in that position. Michael Carrick appeared off the bench against Montenegro and could feature again on Tuesday.

France must hope that Spain lose to Georgia whilst ensuring they beat Finland by a wide enough margin to overtake the world champions on goal difference. Patrice Evra helped his country warm up nicely in last Friday's 6-0 thrashing of Australia, but with a three-goal swing needed the play-offs seems a more likely option for the United left-back and his team-mates.

Nani and Portugal's only hope of automatic qualification is Group F leaders Russia losing to Azerbaijan, while the Portuguese must beat Luxembourg heavily enough to overtake the Russians on goal difference.

In the same group, Northern Ireland's miserable campaign will end in Israel minus United's Jonny Evans, suspended following his red card in the defeat to Azerbaijan last week. Belgium booked their place in next summer's tournament when they beat Croatia last Friday, but Marouane Fellaini will sit out his country's meeting with Wales having picked up a yellow card in last week's outing.

Javier Hernandez's Mexico can still qualify automatically but they must beat Costa Rica and hope that third-placed Honduras lose to Jamaica, while improving their goal difference ahead of the Hondurans.

Ecuador, featuring Antonio Valencia, will grab one of the two remaining automatic qualification spots for South American teams if they draw with Chile, who would also head to Brazil next year with that result. United striker Angelo Henriquez, on loan with Real Zaragoza, did not feature in Chile's 3-3 draw with Colombia last week.

Robin van Persie became the Netherlands' all-time top scorer at international level with a hat-trick against Hungary last Friday, and with his country having already qualified the striker will be keen to finish off an excellent campaign with a win over Turkey.

Japan qualified a full year ahead of the start of the twentieth World Cup finals, and Shinji Kagawa will be hoping for more game time when his country faces Belarus in a friendly. The United attacker played for 87 minutes in Japan's 2-0 defeat to Serbia last Friday.