For Chelsea's France, Portugal and Russia internationals, today (Wednesday) is the day their World Cup fates will be decided.

So far only Petr Cech of the club's regular internationals knows he won't be playing in South Africa in the summer. There are likely to be milestone appearances for some of his club colleagues tonight but that is likely to be far from the players' minds.

Our Portuguese contingent take just a single goal advantage to Bosnia. Ricardo Carvalho is set to play his 50th international as a Chelsea player alongside Paulo Ferreira and Deco, while Henrique Hilario is likely to remain a squad back-up, as he was on Saturday when a Bruno Alves goal decided the home leg. 

Following the weekend's game, Deco admitted: 'In the end we had some luck, but even this advantage is not decisive. The important thing was not conceding. It was a difficult game, but overall we were better and controlled almost the whole game.

'In Zenica, if we score a goal there, everything will be easier, but we must be very intelligent and we must hold on to the ball.' 

The midfielder came off in the final five minutes of the first leg with an injury, although he should be available for this game: 'I felt a pain in the abductor and I put ice on it. That was all it was,' he said. Bosnia-Herzegovina are missing three of their team, including their captain, following first-leg bookings.

France have the same lead for their re-match against Republic of Ireland but have the added insurance of it being an away goal. Nicolas Anelka, who scored it, said:

'It's good to score away from home, It's a play-off so it's very important. It's satisfying because we wanted to show that we could get a good result but we shouldn't get carried away, anything can happen.'

France have only lost one competitive game in the 11 years of the Stade de France. Ireland have never won in France.

Florent Malouda was a stoppage-time sub on Saturday and if he plays a part in the match in Paris, it will be his 50th career cap.

Russia's 2-1 win against Slovenia gives them plenty to do in the away leg, although former Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink isn't too worried.

'I was disappointed with the result,' said Dutchman on Fifa's website. 'We were leading 2-0 and had plenty of chances to increase our advantage. But we did not lose the first match, we won it, and there's no room for panic.

'I know that a very tough battle is waiting for us in Slovenia but we gave proof that we can upset any opposing team regardless of how many goals they allowed in their qualifying group or how dangerous in general they are.'

Hiddink selected Yury Zhirkov in the first game. 

Away from the play-offs, Branislav Ivanovic, who has already qualified for South Africa with Serbia, is in the squad for a friendly.against South Korea in a match a Craven Cottage with a 2.30pm kick-off.

Michael Essien won his 50th cap for Ghana on Sunday. Now he could be involved in an away meeting with Angola, who will be hosting the African Cup of Nations in January.

Salomon Kalou may miss Ivory Coast's friendly in Germany, following an altercation with team mate Abdoulaye Meite in training ahead of his nation's weekend game against Guinea.

Both players have apologised and were disciplined by being left of that game. They could be absent from Wednesday's fixture as well. Definitely missing is injured Germany captain Michael Ballack.