Hamburg  - Three of Europe's top teams face World Cup qualifiers Wednesday knowing that nothing less than victory will suffice if they are remain confident of staying in the hunt for a place at the 2010 finals in South Africa.

Germany take on Azerbaijan, France visit the Faroe Islands and Croatia travel for a testing fixture in Belarus as the qualifying race enters its final stage.

France should move to within five points of Group 7 leaders Serbia with victory over the Faroe Islands in Torshavn.

Coach Raymond Domenech has left veteran Patrick Vieira out of his squad, replacing him with Toulouse midfielder Moussa Sissoko, as les Bleus look to get this must-win fixture out of the way before preparing for the visit of Romania and tackling Serbia on the road.

Germany take on Azerbaijan in Baku looking to open up a gap on Russia in Group 4. Victory would see Joachim Loew's side move four points clear of Russia at the top of the group having played one game more although German must play away at their chief rivals in October in a fixture likely to decide which country gets the single automatic qualifying berth.

Loew will be without Cologne striker Lukas Podolski, who is labouring with a bruised thigh, although Bayern Munich star Miroslav Klose should have recovered in time from an ankle injury that kept him out of Bayern Munich's draw Saturday against Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga.

"There was too great a risk that Lukas could be missing for a longer time if he played in Baku," said Loew.

Klose, meanwhile, traveled to the German training camp in Frankfurt Sunday, completed a training session session, and flew out with the rest of the squad Monday, leaving Loew hopeful that the 32- year-old will be able to line out against Azerbaijan.

Team captain Michael Ballack also traveled after the veteran midfielder helped Chelsea beat Manchester United on penalties Sunday in the Community Shield. Ballack, 32, came on as a substitute in the 65th minute and netted one of the penalties in the match at Wembley.

While runaway Group 6 leaders England take on the Netherlands in a prestigious friendly international in Amsterdam, Croatia travel to Minsk for a Group 6 qualifier in Belarus needing the three points to open up a gap on Ukraine.

England hold a massive 10-point lead over both teams, albeit having played a game more, and are all but assured the automatic qualifying spot.

Slaven Bilic has named striker Arsenal striker Eduardo in his squad for the first time since the player's horror leg break 18 months ago.

In Group 3, Slovenia can move up to third in the table four points behind leaders Slovakia with victory in Maribor over minnows San Marino, who have conceded 32 goals in their seven outings to date.

The Netherlands have already qualified as Group 9 winners, leaving Scotland and Norway among two teams battling it out for second spot in the group.

Scotland coach George Burley has insisted a failure to win would not spell the end of his side's World Cup hopes and while the Scots lie in second place in the group, they have taken just seven points from five games.

"We've got three games left and we've got to win two. I don't care which two we win, but we're going to Norway for a win," he said. (dpa)