Seven weeks to go till the World Cup finals kick off in France and tonight 19 of the contenders test their readiness on a big night of soccer action. From Chile to Croatia, players will stretch the meaning of the words "friendly international" in uncompromising pursuit of places in the squads for France.
Twelve matches involve World Cup teams and seven of them bring finalists head to head to give added bite.
Former World champions Italy, Germany, England and Argentina are all in the fray, along with hosts France who leave home to take on Sweden in Stockholm.
Germany, winners in 1954, 1974 and 1990, face fellow World Cup finalists Nigeria in Cologne, with coach Berti Vogts saying goalkeeper Andreas Koepke is the only player guaranteed a place in the starting line-up in France.
Italy - winners in 1934, 1938 and 1982 - play host in Parma to Paraguay, who are among Nigeria's first round opponents in group D in France.
Colombia and Chile, third and fourth behind Argentina and Paraguay in the South American qualifying group, remain on their own continent, with Chile the hosts in Santiago having already gained a boost in Europe by defeating an experimental England 2-0 in February.
The United States, beaten by Brazil in the second round in 1994, venture to Europe themselves and take on Austria in Vienna as they prepare for their daunting World Cup group F opener against Germany in Paris on June 15th.
Austria coach Herbert Prohaska said he would not be experimenting - "we have a good team already" - and wanted a good result to keep the pressure off for the finals where his men face Italy, Chile and Cameroon in group B.
Romania, who qualified for the finals in superb style with nine wins in 10 matches, face Belgium in Brussels as they prepare for group G clashes with Colombia, England and Tunisia.
Belgium, who beat the US 2-0 in February and drew 2-2 with Norway in March, are hampered by injuries to defenders Lorenzo Staelens and Gordan Vidovic.
Morocco, who feature in group A, are in Sofia against group D contenders Bulgaria, who reached the 1994 semi-finals at the expense of Germany but need another boost after suffering defeats in Argentina and Macedonia in friendlies last month.
Croatia, who had an impressive run in the 1996 European championship finals, entertain Poland in the first of four home friendlies preceding their entry on the World Cup finals stage in group H against Jamaica.
