PARIS (AFP) - Footballing heavyweights England, France, Spain and Italy are all in Euro 2008 action on Wednesday as qualifying for the finals in Austria and Switzerland moves into the home straight.

With November 21 the final day of qualifying for this continental tournament, time is running out for teams to ensure they fill one of the top two spots in the seven qualifying groups.

Scotland, in tough qualifying Group B with both World Cup finalists Italy and France, could also crank up their bid to break through into the 16-team finals following their match in France on Wednesday.

Substitute goal scorer in Scotland's 3-1 win over Lithuania at Hampden on Saturday, Jamie McFadden, said that victory and their 1-0 win last October over France had put them in a confident mood.

"We believe we can get a result and I think the way we have been playing backs that up," said the Everton forward. "You need confidence going into games and there is no better confidence than winning games."

Despite their tough draw, Scotland are second in group B, just one point behind leaders France and one point ahead of world champions Italy. If Scotland qualify for Euro 2008, it will be the first time they have competed in an international tournament since the 1998 World Cup in France.

Even defeat at the Parc des Princes would not rule out Scotland going on to claim an unlikely place in the European Championship, with games against Ukraine and Georgia to come next month.

Steve McClaren faces the acid test of his belief that England's qualifying campaign is back on track as Guus Hiddink brings his Russian revolution to Wembley.

McClaren's side finally showed signs of life with a convincing win over Israel last weekend, but their bid to reach next year's finals will be given a stern examination by one of Europe's pre-eminent coaches.

Russia are a point ahead of England, who still have to travel to Moscow in October, and a win for Hiddink's unbeaten team in London would further damage McClaren's credibility and, more importantly, his team's Euro hopes.

Hiddink has quickly established Russia as one of the most resolute teams in Europe in just over a year in the job, while McClaren, in the same period, has been engaged in a permanent struggle to convince a sceptical public of his worth.

Ukraine approach their Group B qualifier against world champions Italy in a must-win situation to keep their hopes alive.

Ukraine, who lost 3-0 to Italy in the quarter-finals of last year's World Cup, are now in fourth slot with 13 points from seven matches, four points behind third-placed Italy.

Ukrainian manager Oleg Blokhin said he remained confident that his side still had chances to obtain a pass to the Euro finals despite an unexpected points loss in Tbilisi, where Ukraine were held to a 1-1 draw on Saturday.

"I'm an optimist and believe we still have chances to win a place in the finals," he told AFP.

"We still have a game in hand unlike our main rivals France, Scotland and Italy.

"I know well how many mistakes we made in the match at Georgia. And I believe we are able to avoid them in the match with Italy. It's our last opportunity to keep our chances for a place in the finals alive."

The Republic of Ireland take on the Czech Republic in Prague anxious to pick themselves up after their injury-time heartache against Slovakia at the weekend.

Steve Staunton's side appeared to have done enough to add three points to their campaign until the Slovaks levelled for the second time.

A win would take third-placed the Republic into second in Group D ahead of the Czechs and behind runaway leaders Germany who sit out these latest batch of qualifiers on the road to Switzerland and Austria next year.

Meanwhile Spain, in third spot in Group F, aim to beef up their challenge for a top-two spot at home to Latvia.