sport

It's Going To Be A Big Weekend For...

Wayne Rooney
Most people will agree that Wayne Rooney's performance against Croatia was his best in an England shirt for some considerable time.

Guile, passing, touch and even a goal - imagine! In addition, Rooney is in the middle of one of his famous purple patches, with goals in each of his last three games.

The interesting thing about Fabio Capello's squad selections so far haven't so much been the omission of Michael Owen, but the clear preference of Rooney over Owen.

It's widely accepted that England don't get the best of either when played together. However, under McClaren and Eriksson, if both were fit, both would play. Capello has realised that Emile Heskey - while not providing a great deal of goal threat by himself - is a certain inclusion for the good of the team. If he thought Owen was a more suitable partner for Heskey, he would have every justification in picking him this time around. Five goals in eight games for Newcastle is an excellent achievement considering the shambles there, and he has an excellent past record with Heskey.

Instead, Capello has essentially chosen two separate partnerships in his squad, neither of which includes Owen. All of this means that of the two previously indispensible and un-droppable strikers, Rooney is the favoured one.

It's now up to Rooney to prove Capello right.

David Healy
Michael Owen used to be known as 'EMO' (England's Michael Owen), due to his habit of only being available for - and performing for - his country.

NIDH doesn't have quite the same ring to it, but the sentiment is the same for David Healy.

Barely able to get a game, never mind a goal for Sunderland (just the one strike, against Nottingham Forest in the League Cup), Healy is in a bizarre limbo where he trains and warms the bench for his club, killing time between international games when he suddenly comes good, and everyone wonders why he isn't a £15million player.

The trouble is, Healy hasn't been scoring for Northern Ireland these days. No goals in the last three is a veritable drought by his international standards.

The pressure on Healy must be immense come international time. Barely kinetic for weeks on end, he's suddenly the star, the hero with the hopes of a nation on his shoulders.

Northern Ireland's hopes of getting close to their unexpected campaign to reach Euro 2008 largely rest with Healy, so the sooner he can start scoring again, the better.

Ireland, Republic Of
Not technically this weekend, but this round of fixtures sees Ireland face Cyprus on Wednesday.

As you may recall, the aggregate scoreline from the last two occasions these two have met is 6-3 to the Cypriots, a 5-2 loss and a 1-1 draw during the dark days of Steve Staunton's tenure.

Giovanni Trapattoni's first few games in charge have been encouraging, but this is time to throw one of many monkeys from the back of Irish football.

Carlos Queiroz
Portugal coach the second time around, it's been no bed of roses (as Bon Jovi once sang) for Queiroz so far.

In perhaps the surprise result of the first round of games, Denmark came back at the death to beat a Ronaldo-less Portugal 3-2 - not the ideal way to get started.

Any manager following Luiz Felipe Scolari is bound to face some adverse opinion and unflattering comparisons, but Portugal have been a nearly team for too long now.

The worry for the Portuguese might be that they have appointed their own Steve McClaren - the excellent assistant who isn't quite good enough for the top job. He's already proved to troubled by large amounts of pressure (see his brief spell at Real Madrid), and his first spell in charge of Portugal wasn't exactly a rip-roaring success either.

It's only one defeat, and in the two games so far nobody else in the group has stood out as a possible and genuine challenger to their status as top side in the group, but perhaps, just like England fans a little more than a year ago, the Portuguese will look back on the days of mild disappointment as a golden age.

Slaven Bilic
All of a sudden, Bilic's reputation as one of the bright young things of management isn't looking quite so sturdy.

Tactically out-thought by Capello in Zagreb and with Ukraine starting well, Bilic is now facing a very tough battle to make it to South Africa, either by topping the group or via the play-offs. And the prospects ahead of this round aren't looking terrific.

While they should make short work of Andorra on Wednesday, first they must travel to Ukraine, and Bilic will be without at least five of his first-choice eleven, with others not having the best time of things at their clubs.

Croatia have thrived under Bilic as underdogs - without much expectation of success. Now they are regarded as one of the best teams in Europe, it will be interesting to see how they perform.

Raymond Domenech
No more slip-ups allowed in the French camp.

After miraculously keeping his job after a shambolic Euro 2008, Domenech didn't do his future career prospects an awful lot of good by losing his opening game of this qualifying campaign in equally shambolic fashion - 3-1 to Austria.

Any more rickets like that, and surely the French patience will run out, and with a trip to the rather mercurial Romania lined up for Saturday, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that France will have a new coach by their next qualifier in March.

Nick Miller