Quartet face tense evening

Ulises de la Cruz, who tonight faces Chile for Ecuador, is so far the only Villa player to confirm his place in Germany, but representatives could yet swell to five (or six and a half if you count Wilfred Bouma). Angel’s Colombia, who drew 1-1 with Chile on Saturday, will claim fifth and a play-off date with Australia if they better the result of Uruguay against Argentina when they face Paraguay in Asuncion.

In Europe, Baroš is an injury doubt as the Czech Republic prepare to face Finland in Helsinki. Karel Brückner’s team need victory to leapfrog Romania into second but will hope for something more comfortable than the 4-3 win they garnered in the reverse fixture in March.

Olof Mellberg will hope to make amends when Sweden line up against Iceland tonight, after his handball blunder against Croatia prolonged the side’s wait to seal second place. The Swedes need just a point to confirm a play-off place, and could yet sidle back to the top if Croatia slip up against Hungary.

Villa team-mate Sørenson can only hope for second, but would certainly settle for that as Denmark look to keep their slender hopes alive. They need to beat Kazakhstan and hope Turkey slip up in Albania to steal second place. Northern Ireland have aspirations of claiming fourth in Group 6 and can do see with victory in Austria