BLUES ON INTERNATIONAL DUTY

Euro 2008 qualifying reaches crunch time for several of Chelsea's internationals over the next two weeks.

Petr Cech's Czech Republic are in the healthiest position with 20 points in second place, two behind Germany but with a comfortable lead over the Republic of Ireland's third place with16 points in Group D.

John Terry will once again lead England in Group E of the Euro 2008 qualifiers as they face sixth place Estonia at home. Frank Lampard returns to the squad after missing the last two games against Israel and Russia.

Ashley Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole will all join their club captain in the squad for the Estonia game on Saturday 13th October.

England are second to Croatia in Group E on 20 points, three points behind the leaders and two points in front of third place Russia, whose next game is at home at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow against England on Wednesday 17th October.

Tal Ben-Haim's Israel are fourth in Group E, one point behind Russia, and will play Croatia away on Saturday at the Masimir in Zagreb.

Claude Makalele and Florent Malouda will travel to the Faroe Islands for a game on Saturday and will looking for a win if France are to have any hopes of qualifying from the group stages.

France are currently third in Group B with 19 points, which puts them one point behind Italy and two points behind Scotland after their surprise 1-0 defeat to the Scots in their last international game. France will also face Lithuania at home in Nantes on the 17th.

Andriy Shevchenko travels to Scotland with the Ukrainian national side to play the Group leaders on Saturday. Ukraine have a game in hand in Group B in which they are fourth with 13 points, eight points behind the leaders and three in front of fifth place Lithuania.

Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho are both in the Portuguese squad which will make the voyage to the Tofikh Bakhramov-Republic Stadium in Baku to face Azerbaijan. Portugal will need a win to put them on equal standings with Finland who are second in Group A below Poland.

Portugal are currently on 17 points with a game in hand over Finland and Poland who are on 19 and 21 points respectively.

For South American nations, sights are already on the 2010 World Cup with the qualification campaign beginning this weekend.

Claudio Pizarro's Peru will host Paraguay on Saturday before travelling to Chile the following Wednesday.

All of our African players have qualified for the African Cup of Nations, but there are still internationals to be played. Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou's match against Catalonia on the 14th has been cancelled, but the Ivory Coast will still face Austria a week Wednesday. There is a question mark over Kalou's involvement following the hamstring strain that forced the striker out of action at Bolton.

Nigeria have a friendly match against Mexico on the 14th, John Mikel Obi's side recently finished top of their group to qualify for the African Cup of Nations, four points clear of second place Uganda.

At under 21 level, Rhys Taylor will be representing Wales when they host Malta U21s on Wednesday 17th.

The England U19s squad includes Scott Sinclair, Ryan Bertrand, Jack Cork, Sam Hutchinson and Lee Sawyer when they face Iceland U19s on Friday 12th October at Doncater Rovers' Keepmoat Stadium, Romania U19s on Sunday 14th at Scunthorpe United's Glanford Park and the Belgium U19s at Barnsley FC's Oakwell Stadium in the European Championship qualifiers.

The Academy's Ben Gordon faces a busy week in the England U17 squad which faces Malta U17s on the 21st, Estonia U17s on the 23rd and Portugal U17s on 26th.

Youth team regular Jeffrey Bruma will play for the Netherlands U17s when they host Greece U17s on Wednesday 10th.