France, Portugal get chance for Euro 2012 payback

France and Portugal get the chance to show how far their recent revivals have taken them when qualifying for the 2012 European Championship resumes this week

With 20 matches across Friday and Saturday, France travels to face the Belarus team it lost to in September and Portugal is up against Norway _ nine months after losing to the same opponent.
France has rallied to lead qualifying Group D, while Portugal could go top in Group H with victory in Lisbon.
Also on Friday, three-time European champion Germany aims to continue its perfect start against an Austria team needing victory to stay in contention, while Italy hosts Estonia.
England welcomes Switzerland in one of the nine games on Saturday, when world champion Spain meets the United States in Boston for a friendly.
Portugal has gradually recovered from a disastrous start to its qualifying campaign, when it drew 4-4 with lowly Cyprus and lost 1-0 to Norway in Oslo to take just one point from its first two matches.
Carlos Queiroz was fired in the aftermath of that nadir of his two-year spell in charge, with Paulo Bento stepping in.
A pair of 3-1 wins over Denmark and Iceland have helped push Portugal into second place, three points behind Norway. Bento's record also includes a shock 4-0 triumph over neighbor Spain.
Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo will return for the match at Benfica's Stadium of Light after missing two friendlies through injury.
France is already top of its group having followed its 1-0 defeat to Belarus _ a result that was arguably its most embarrassing ever at home _ with four straight wins.
Victory in Minsk on Friday would put it seven points clear of Belarus and Albania, which does not play until Tuesday, when it hosts Luxembourg in the final round of qualifying this season.
Despite having home advantage this time, Belarus appears to have no chance of another shock win since it will be missing about half of its regular starters.
Belarus will be without injured Birmingham midfielder Alexander Hleb, Bari striker Vitaly Kutuzov and midfielder Vitaly Rodionov, who plays for Belarusian champion BATE Borisov.
Sergei Kornilenko, Dmitry Malosh and Alexander Kulchiy are suspended.
"We must prepare the team to perform a miracle," Belarus coach Bernd Stange said. "The two teams are on different levels, but we must not be afraid of them. We must frighten them. We also can play football.
"We will fight for every centimeter of the pitch, to the very last second of the match. The French players are stronger individually, but we must be stronger in spirit and prevent them from controlling the game." Germany midfielder Christian Traesch has joined his team's growing injury list and will miss Friday's game against Austria and the meeting with Azerbaijan on Tuesday. Traesch injured his left ankle in training and was sent home on Wednesday.
Coach Joachim Loew decided against calling up a replacement despite already being without striker Miroslav Klose, defender Per Mertesacker and midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger and Marco Reus.
Sweden coach Erik Hamren will be without key striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic against Moldova on Friday due to a tendon injury in his right foot.
The AC Milan player has been bothered by the injury since the last rounds of the Serie A.
Hamren said Ibrahimovic will stay home to rehabilitate the injury, and still hopes to have the striker available for the home game against Finland next week.
"We're putting all efforts into getting him ready to play on Tuesday instead," Hamren said.
England seeks to break a tie with Montenegro at the top of Group G when the unbeaten pair both play on Saturday.
While tiny Montenegro hosts Bulgaria, England hosts Switzerland at Wembley. Midfielder Michael Carrick pulled out of the squad because of an injury he sustained in Manchester United's Champions League final defeat to Barcelona last weekend.
With Wayne Rooney suspended and Jermain Defoe out with a wrist problem, Darren Bent is likely to start up front after scoring in his last three games.
"Darren Bent is not a replacement for Wayne and Jermain, because he was playing anyway," England defender Joleon Lescott said. "He is a great goal scorer and has proved that in the Premier League, which I believe to be the toughest in the world.
"Darren is certainly amongst the best finishers. He scores goals from all ranges. I am sure Switzerland will be fearful of him." Spain has five wins from five matches and leads Group I, one of three pools with only five teams, by six points. It is almost assured of a place at next year's tournament in Poland and Ukraine.