Euro 2008 fate hangs in balance

England warm up for Wednesday's Euro 2008 qualifier with a friendly in Vienna on Friday. Whether they will be making a return trip to Austria next year for the final stages of the competition remains to be seen.

After their defeat last month in Moscow, England have been left with a slim chance of qualifying - and little opportunity to influence the outcome.

If Russia come out on top

in Israel, they only have to beat minnows Andorra to qualify - practically a foregone conclusion. Equally, Croatia must achieve at least a draw on their outing to Macedonia to go through.

England players - and fans - will be on tenterhooks as these two crucial matches play out on Saturday evening. The Israel v Russia game is screened live from Tel Aviv on SS3 from 6.00pm.

If these matches end fa-vourably for England, Steve McClaren's side will have

everything to play for at Wem-bley on Wednesday night. Watch England v Croatia on BBC1 from 7.30pm.

Sitting sixth in Group D, Wales can no longer qualify for Euro 2008. However, good performances on Saturday against the Republic of Ireland (SS3, 2.30pm) and on Wednes-day against Germany (BBC2 Wales, 7.00pm) could improve their FIFA rankings, and possibly promote them to third in the table. John Toshack will be without injured captain Craig Bellamy and teenage defender Gareth Bale.

England's under-21 manager Stuart Pearce is missing a few players - Mark Noble, Michael Johnson and Martin Cranie - through injury, but it's likely that Arsenal's 18-year-old striker Theo Walcott will still appear for the side, despite suggestions that he might step up to play with

the big boys in the senior squad. James Vaughan also got the nod.

England take on Bulgaria in a qualifier for the UEFA U21 Championship 2009 on Friday (SS1, 5.30pm).