This weekend brings about the second and third FIFA dates of the year, but unlike last month's slew of international friendlies, many of the European matches set to be played over the next five days will be much more than half-paced kickabouts.
That's because qualifying for Euro 2012 kicks back into gear, and with the fixture list reaching the halfway mark, games are starting to get very interesting.
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Midway through the qualifying campaign, the cream is beginning to rise to the top and many of the expected names are leading their respective groups. Germany, Russia, Italy, France, Netherlands, and Spain all lead their groups, and should be favoured to advance when all is said and done.
More surprisingly, Portugal and England are currently chasing the top spot in their groups.
The Portuguese are looking up at Norway in Group H, trailing by two points despite having played one more game than the Scandinavians. Idle Portugal could see themselves even further behind by Saturday's end, should Norway win an Oslo meeting with Denmark.
The Three Lions are in a good position to gain ground on idle Group G leaders Montenegro, with a weekend match with Wales at Wembley being all that stands in England's way of erasing their three-point deficit. The Welsh have only scored one goal in three matches thus far, and could be on the wrong end of another big defeat if they don't vastly improve their form against their UK brethren.
Some other interesting matches set to take place this week:
Turkey v. Austria (Tuesday, March 29) - The Austrians are in second place in Group A, one point ahead of Turkey. With Austria set to play two matches this week (they take on Belgium today), Turkey will need a result in Istanbul Tuesday if they want to maintain a realistic shot at advancing.
Armenia v. Russia (Tuesday) - The Russians hold a two point lead over current Group B co-runners up Armenia and Ireland. A loss by Russia could see them drop to third place by day's end, with the Irish hosting Macedonia little bit later on in the night.
Slovenia v. Italy (Today: Friday, March 25) - Group C's match of the week is surely this one, as the Italians travel to Ljubljana with the goal of holding off the second placed Slovenians. With Italy idle on Tuesday while Slovenia takes on Northern Ireland, the Azzurri will hope to get a result from this match in order to keep some distance at the top of the table.
Hungary v. Netherlands (Today & Tuesday) - After losing the first fixture of the qualification campaign, Hungary have gone on a decent run - against the minnows of the group - to vault themselves into second place in Group E. This week will test their mettle as they get set to play a pair of matches with the powerhouse Dutch - today in Budapest, and Tuesday in Amsterdam. The Hungarians are heavy underdogs for both matches, and by midweek all of their momentum may have evaporated like a puff of Dutch smoke.
What matches are you looking forward to this week? Will the Welsh throw a wrench in their big brother's attempts to gain top spot in Group G? Does Hungary stand a chance in their pair of meetings with the Dutch?