Russia Looking Strong, Portugal Pretty Much Gone

Today's European group qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup football tournament taught us a few things.

Firstly, that Carlos Queiroz, the current Portugal manager, is not up to the job. Yeah, OK, it was a friendly and Queiroz rested a few players, but 0-0 against Estonia indicates the man is not capable of leading a talented squad of players to South Africa 2010.

Sweden's 4-0 victory over Malta makes the situation even worse as the two sides are both now on 9 points and well behind Denmark and Hungary.

Secondly, Fabio Capello's England are going to be at the Finals. A 6-0 thumping of Andorra means 7 wins out of 7 and they aren't likely to be caught by either Croatia or Ukraine.

Thirdly, Macedonia's victory over Iceland gives some hope to Scotland. They're going to have to pull it out of the bag to even be in with a chance of the play offs. Now, however, they do actually have a chance and should - hopefully - grab it with both hands.

Fourthly and most importantly, Russia's 3-0 away victory over Finland puts them one point behind Germany in Group Four. And, as all us punters know, betting against a Guus Hiddink side in tournament competitions is a mug's game. Russia could even win this group.