World Cup weekend

The road to South Africa 2010 starts for numerous United players and one ex-Reds coach this weekend.

Nani is in the squad for Carlos Queiroz's first World Cup qualifier as Portugal boss, but Cristiano Ronaldo is continuing his rehab at Carrington.

John O'Shea should start on Saturday evening when the Republic of Ireland begin their campaign under Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni. The away match against Georgia is being played on neutral ground in Mainz, Germany for security reasons.

O'Shea is in the same qualifying group as new United team-mate Dimitar Berbatov - they will face each other in late March 2009 but firstly Berbatov's Bulgaria travel to Montenegro in search of three points.

Also sharing a group are Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic, the defenders who both joined the Reds in January 2006. Evra hopes to feature in France's match in Austria while Vidic's Serbia are expected to make a winning start against the Faroe Islands.

Wes Brown and Wayne Rooney could play against Barcelona in Andorra but Rio Ferdinand was ruled out on Friday afternoon due to a back injury. Fortunately the Reds centre-back is expected to be fit for the second game against Croatia in midweek, three days before United travel to Liverpool.

Finally for Europe, Jonny Evans' Northern Ireland and Darren Fletcher's Scotland are both away, taking on Slovakia and Macedonia respectively.

South America

Qualifying in South America is already well underway - Argentina's match on Saturday will be their seventh. Carlos Tevez and co can go top of the 10-strong group if they beat leaders Paraguay in Buenos Aires.

Other Internationals

Young United players called up by their countries include Ben Amos and Danny Welbeck (England U21), Craig Cathcart and Corry Evans (N. Ireland U21), Ron-Robert Zieler (Germany U20), Conor Devlin and Chris Curran (N. Ireland U19). Unfortunately Danny Drinkwater had to withdraw from England's U21 squad due to injury.

Online betting for all qualifiers and the outcome of World Cup 2010 is available at www.manutd.com/bet. Odds include 7/2 for Rooney to score the first goal against Andorra and 5/1 for Brazil to win the tournament in two years' time.