by Michael Baggaley
michael.baggaley@thesentinel.co.uk

JULY 11, 2010. World Cup final day, and England are playing Germany in Johannesburg.

As the players take it in turns to mangle God Save The Queen and Das Lied Der Deutschen, John Motson chirps up: "Remarkable. On one side Stoke City defender Robert Huth is lining up for Germany. On the other, his Potteries team-mate Ryan Shawcross is playing for England."

Ok, so it couldn't really happen... Motty's not doing the commentary for England games any more.

But Huth and Shawcross are just two of the Stoke City squad who still have a chance of making it to South Africa.

Huth isn't in the current Germany squad, but he does have 19 caps, so will be hoping for a call if his team book their place by winning in Russia today.

England Under-21 international Shawcross is in the form of his life but, with so many defenders in front of him, his chances of making the plane could depend on a referee finally snapping and throttling serial moaner John Terry in the centre circle at Stamford Bridge.

The Stoke player most likely to make it is goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen, who will book his place today if Denmark win at home to old rivals Sweden.

Victory would also provide the added bonus of denying England's old chum Ronaldo and his Portugal side the automatic qualifying spot from Group One.

The next most likely are Republic of Ireland pair Glenn Whelan and Liam Lawrence, who will be certain of a play-off place if their team beats group leaders Italy in Dublin tonight.

If the Republic pull it off, they can still claim the top spot by winning at home to Montenegro next Wednesday and hoping the world champions fail to win at home to Cyprus.

In theory, Rory Delap could play for the Republic, but the 33-year-old says he expects to be watching the finals in a bar, having not been picked since a disagreement with former Republic boss Brian Kerr.

That's a shame for Delap, whose industrious midfield performances have made him a Premier League regular for 11 seasons. Let's face it, his long throws would also have guaranteed him a place if Jack Charlton were still in charge.

While old stager Delap prepares to sit this one out, young thruster Diego Arismendi could still make it as he has already earned two caps for Uruguay.

He's spending the international break at Stoke's training ground rather than in the Uruguay squad, so his fate is in his countrymen's hands for now.

Sixth-placed Uruguay can still claim one of the four South American automatic qualifying places, or the fifth place which would earn a play-off against the fourth-best team in the North, Central America and Caribbean group.

Uruguay's qualification could mean the end for a fifth-placed Argentina side currently being managed with hilarious ineptitude by Diego Maradona.

The teams face each other in Uruguay on Wednesday when it's fair to say Arismendi won't be the only person in England rooting for a home win.

If they do it, expect him to share a toast with Stoke assistant boss Peter Reid who was in the England team beaten by Maradona's 'hand of God' and 'goal-of-the-century' in the 2-1 defeat to Argentina in 1986.

Tuncay's hopes are hanging by a thread with third-placed Turkey. The dream will be over if rivals Bosnia win in Estonia today.

Ricardo Fuller won't make it. Jamaica just missed out to Mexico on goal difference for a place in the final round of qualifying in the North, Central America and Caribbean group.

Stoke won't have an African representative in the finals as neither Senegal – home to Salif Diao, Abdoulaye Faye, Amdy Faye and Ibrahima Sonko – nor Mama Sidibe's Mali have made it though qualifying.

The final qualifying is split into five groups with the winners of each group qualifying for South Africa. Mali are second in their group, but can't catch runaway leaders Ghana.

Senegal didn't make the final round of qualifying with the best 20 African teams, so must wait another four years.

Unless, that is, Sepp Blatter receives a visit from Abdoulaye...