The race for Brazil 2014 kicks-off on Friday night with the first qualifying games for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. These opening games are going to be indicators for whether fans can expect an enjoyable or ultimately disappointing qualification campaign.

Moldova v England

England’s Group H campaign begins at the Zimbru Stadium in Chisinau as Roy Hodgson prepares his side for their first competitive game since the European Championships. Despite exiting on penalties to Italy, England have yet to be defeated in open play in Hodgson’s seven matches to date and don’t expect that to change on Friday night (Moldova 12/1 draw 4/1 England 3/10 Match Betting).

Adam Johnson, Ashley Cole, Wayne Rooney and Andy Carroll are all missing through injury but John Terry could play having taken full part in training earlier this week. It is likely that Jermain Defoe will lead the England line and this could be his best chance to shine and prove to Hodgson he is worthy of a regular starting berth.

As for Moldova, they finished second bottom of their Euro 2012 qualifying group and have failed to score in their last five matches, with the opponents of Albania, El Salvador, Venezuela, Belarus and Georgia not exactly in the same league as England. These teams were drawn together for 1998 World Cup qualifying and England won 3-0 in Chisinau and 4-0 at Wembley. Similar results are 7/1 and 11/1 respectively and look possible outcomes.

Wales v Belgium

Chris Coleman’s Wales start their World Cup qualification campaign against one of the blossoming teams in Europe. Belgium have their own golden generation and the squad boasts 10 players from the Premier League, with the likes of Eden Hazard, Moussa Dembele, Vincent Kompany and Thomas Vermaelen the standout performers.

All together this means it is a daunting task for Coleman’s side – not helped by the fact they have lost both his matches in charge so far (Wales 7/2 draw 13/5 Belgium 5/6 Match Betting).

Key players such as Neil Taylor, Craig Bellamy, Joe Ledley, Andrew Crofts, Jack Collison, David Vaughan and Wayne Hennessey are all injured, which means Coleman needs to unite a depleted squad.

Home hopes will rest on Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen, but they will need to support lone striker Steve Morison as there will not be many expecting him getting much change from Kompany and Vermaelen. Expect a 2-0 win for Belgium, priced at 7/1, to be on the cards.

Russia v Northern Ireland

Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland have lost six of their last seven matches and still need to address their age-old problem of scoring goals. Kyle Lafferty and Dean Sheils are likely to lead the line, while the centre-back pairing of Jonny Evans and Aaron Hughes are set to return to shore up a leaky back-line.

It promises to be a long night in Moscow for the Irish, with Russia starting their new era under former England boss Fabio Capello. The likes of Aleksandr Kerzhakov and Alan Dzagoev – who shone at Euro 2012 – will pose big problems for the Northern Ireland defence as Russia look to continue a formidable home record that has seen them concede only twice in their last seven home games. Russia are 2/9 to win in the match betting and you can’t look much further than that, with the draw 11/2 and a Northern Ireland shock win priced at 12/1.

Kazakhstan v Republic of Ireland

Ireland will want to bounce back from a miserable Euro 2012 in their opening World Cup 2014 qualifier against a Kazakhstan outfit who are ranked 145th in the FIFA World rankings (Kazakhstan 9/2 draw 5/2 Ireland 8/11 Match Betting) .

It is a period of transition for Giovanni Trapattoni as the experienced duo of Shay Given and Damien Duff have retired, while they will do without Richard Dunne. With the likes of Germany, Sweden and Austria alongside Ireland in Group C they really need to get a result against the minnows of Kazakhstan and the Faroe Islands.

Trapattoni has indicated that Simon Cox is likely to start the game ahead of James McClean, with the Sunderland man troubled with a cold. Glenn Whelan, Aiden McGeady, James McCarthy and Cox will make up the midfield, while Jon Walters is expected to partner Robbie Keane up front. Ireland need to go for goals on Friday and 28/1 for a 4-0 win to the Irish looks a tempting prospect.

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