October International Duty

Another double fixture of World Cup Qualifiers is upon us, with games this weekend and mid-week. Another stop in the Liga Sagres for Benfica, who can use the time to rehab all the players who are currently hurting.


Here's a list of Benfica players that will be defending their countries colors this weekend.

Quim, Nuno Gomes, Carlos Martins
Portugal
10/11 - @ Sweden
10/15 - Vs Albania

Portugal will play their hardest game of these qualifiers in Sweden, Portugal currently trails Sweden by one point and will try to get that point back this weekend. On their second game, Portugal will host group leaders Albania.

Katsouranis
Greece
10/11 - Vs Moldova
10/15 - Vs Switzerland

Greece is currently leading their group and they are perfect so far having won 2 games of a possible 2. They will host Moldova, who are on the opposite end of the table, in the first game. On the second game they will host Switzerland, who is still looking for their first win.

Here are the standings of the two groups



On the South American side


Maxi Pereira
Uruguay
10/11 - @ Argentina
10/14 - @ Bolivia

Uruguay is currently out of the first 4 spots, which are the spots that will give those team an automatic berth, but they are still very much in the hunt. Uruguay trails the 3 teams ahead of them by 1 point and with good results over the weekend can very well move into one of those spots. The will have a very difficult first match against 5rd place Argentina in Buenos Aires, and will then travel to La Paz where they will play last place Bolivia.

DiMaria
Argentina
10/11 - Vs Uruguay
10/15 - @ Chile

Argentina currently in third, has 2 difficult games, and will try to get the three points in Buenos Aires against Uruguay to remain in contention. On their second match, they will travel to Chile to try to put some distance between them and Chile who has the same points but occupies the 4th spot on the table

Oscar Cardozo
Paraguay
10/11 - @ Colombia
10/15 - Vs Peru

Paraguay, currently group leaders with a comfortable 4 point lead, will travel to Bogota where they will find a Columbian team desperate to not lose any more ground on the table. They will have an easier game against next to last Peru in Assuncion. One win is all Paraguay needs to remain at the top of the group at the halfway point of these qualifiers.

Here are the standings up until this point (click to enlarge)


In Africa

Binya
Cameroon
10/11 - Vs Mauritius

Cameroon will play the last game of the group. Having already qualified for the next round, Cameroon will simply satisfy schedule requirements.

As always let's hope that all of the players involved in these matches come back healthy.