Hartson eyes up Scottish duel in Euro play-off showdown

JOHN HARTSON is hoping Wales will be paired with Scotland in the Euro 2004 play-offs but would settle for Ireland or England.

Although Wales can still qualify automatically if results go their way, they are certain of a place in the November showdowns where they could be joined by Ireland, England or Scotland.

Several of Europe's heavyweights including Turkey, Holland, Spain and Russia are also possible opponents.

But Hartson, who played in Wednesday night's 1-1 draw with Finland, would like something closer to home with Scotland, where he plays his club football at Celtic, his preferred opponents.

Hartson said: "You obviously know who I would like. Just look where I am playing my club football at the moment. "To get one of the home countries would be superb. And we have no need to worry about anyone, we have a great record in Cardiff and nobody would relish playing us in the Millennium Stadium.

"England are a tremendous side and would pose a massive threat. The atmosphere would be great, and it would be the same at Hampden Park or in Dublin," he said.

The prospect of England in Cardiff would pose worrying security problems. But the English will only finish in the play-offs if they lose in Turkey next month, while the Irish and Scots still have work to do if they are to figure in the November clashes.

Wales, of course, may want to look towards the likes of Latvia, Iceland, Hungary, Croatia or Slovenia as a more realistic passage to the finals next summer.

Manager Mark Hughes believes the fall-out from the Italy drubbing at the weekend affected Welsh minds during the Finland game. Had they beaten the Finns, a last-game victory over Serbia and Montenegro would have ensured automatic qualification but the dismissal of Jason Koumas and Mikael Forssell's late equaliser meant they had to settle for a draw.

Hughes said: "We were never really on top against Finland and sat back to protect what we had, and that was a consequence of what happened at the weekend. We were hurt by that defeat in Italy and we just wanted to take what we had from the game.

"We have been able to bounce back from what happened in Italy with a depleted squad and a lot of senior players missing. We have been able to achieve something," he said.

To qualify as group winners they now need to beat the Serbo-Montenegrins and hope Italy drop points at home to bottom side Azerbaijan.

He added: "We hope now for a decent draw because I believe outright qualification is beyond us now. We have started to look at the possible countries we could meet in the play-offs, it is just forward planning.

"We were the fourth-seeded team in the group so to finish above Serbia and Finland is a magnificent achievement.

"We have looked at the potential second-placed countries and we feel we can do well whoever we face."