ENGLAND could be thrown into a group of death in Saturday's draw for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
Boss Fabio Capello could see the Three Lions pitted against France, the Czech Republic, Poland, Finland and Wales in a worse-case scenario.
England, ranked the fourth best team in Europe and No 6 in the world, will be in Pot One.
That means they are certain to avoid the other big guns Spain, Holland, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Norway and Greece.
But they can be drawn in the same group as France.
Boss Laurent Blanc will see his side come out of Pot Two as they have now slipped down to 15 in the world rankings.
Montenegro, who are pushing England all the way in the Euro qualifiers, are also in that section along with Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, Turkey, Serbia and Slovakia.
The Republic of Ireland join the Czechs, Switzerland, Israel, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belarus, Ukraine and Hungary in Pot Three.
Scotland will come out of Pot Four while Wales are now so bad they are in Pot Six with fellow no-hopers Andorra, San Marino and Malta.
The draw for the European zone will be made in front of 2,000 guests here at 8.20pm on Saturday.
Capello will be in Brazil, which hosts the 2014 finals, even though he is due to quit as England boss after next year's European Championships.
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Rank | Team | W/D/L | Pts |
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Cities & Stadiums
The Top 3 Teams of Previous Tournaments
Year | Winners | Runner-up | Third place |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | Spain | Germany | Russia / Turkey |
2004 | Greece | Portugal | Netherlands / Czech Republic |
2000 | France | Italy | Netherlands / Portugal |
1996 | Germany | Czech Republic | France / England |
1992 | Denmark | Germany | Netherlands / Sweden |
1988 | Netherlands | Soviet Union | Italy / West Germany |
1984 | France | Spain | Denmark / Portugal |
1980 | West Germany | Belgium | Czechoslovakia |
1976 | Czechoslovakia | West Germany | Netherlands |
1972 | West Germany | Soviet Union | Belgium |
1968 | Italy | Yugoslavia | England |
1964 | Spain | Soviet Union | Hungary |
1960 | Soviet Union | Yugoslavia | Czechoslovakia |