20 teams have already qualified for this summer’s European Championships in France and just four places in the tournament remain.
This international break sees eight teams who finished third in their qualifying groups battle it out in two-legged play-offs for the chance to compete at Euro 2016.
To build a little anticipation for these crucial fixtures we have decided to preview the games and in this article we will look ahead to Thrusday and Friday’s match ups.
Norway vs Hungary (First leg in Norway on 12/11, Second leg in Hungary on 15/11)
Per-Mathias Høgmo’s Norway came just short of automatic qualification.
They went into the final set of fixtures two points ahead of Croatia in second place but fell to defeat in Italy as Croatia recorded a vital away win against Malta.
The defeat was especially agonizing for Høgmo’s side as they were leading Italy for most of the game, only to concede two late goals and lose the match 2-1.
Norwich’s defensive midfielder Alexander Tettey was Norway’s top goalscorer during qualifying and with second top scorer Joshua King not in the squad there is huge pressure on Norway’s striker to deliver on Thursday.
Although Hungary came just short of qualifying automatically as the best third placed side, they may be disappointed with their qualifying campaign.
In what was a nice draw, Hungary were put in a group with Northern Ireland, Romania, Finland, the Faroe Islands and Greece.
However, a home defeat to Northern Ireland and disappointing results against Romania and Greece meant that Hungary have to go through the nail-biting process of the play-offs.
Captain Balázs Dzsudzsák put in a number of sterling performances during the qualifiers as did striker Krisztián Németh and Hungary boss Bernd Storck will be hoping that the duo can continue their fine form and fire his side into this summer’s Championships.
English fans are likely to remember Hungary goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly. The 39 year-old former Crystal Palace shot-stopper, who always wears a tracksuit trousers as opposed to shorts, is expected to win his 100th cap on Thursday.
Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Republic of Ireland (First leg in Bosnia on 13/11, Second leg in Ireland on 16/11)
Bosnia finished behind Belgium and Wales as they missed out on automatic qualification by four points.
Their campaign started in disastrous fashion with defeats to Israel and Cyrpus but performances certainly picked up after Mehmed Baždarević was drafted in as manger with six qualifying matches left to play.
Under Baždarević, Bosnia won five of their remaining six qualifiers, including an impressive 2-0 win over Wales.
Bosnia’s main attacking threat comes from Edin Dzeko who was the nation’s top goalscorer in qualifying with seven goals.
Baždarević’s side are likely to be a difficult team to score against with Chelsea goalkeeper Asmir Begovic set to start between the sticks.
A factor that may come into play in this tie is the importance of home advantage.
Bosnia’s Bilino Polje stadium is a hostile environment for opposition teams to play in and both Belgium and Wales struggled at the stadium in Zenica. With this in mind, Bosnia will be hoping that they can put themselves in control of the tie with a victory on home soil in the first leg on Friday.
Martin O’Neil’s Republic of Ireland came agonizingly close to making it through to Euro 2016 automatically.
A surprise victory over Germany at the Aviva Stadium set Ireland up for what was essentially a “winner takes all” match against Poland in Warsaw.
Unfortunately for Ireland they were undone by goals from Grzegorz Krychowiak and Robert Lewandowski as they fell to a 2-1 defeat.
Nevertheless Ireland will certainly believe that they can get past Bosnia, especially after their stern defense won plenty of plaudits during the group stage.
O’Neil’s men only conceded seven goals in their ten qualifying games and will feel that they are more than capable of keeping out Dzeko and co.
One potential worry for Ireland is their over reliance on 35-year old captain Robbie Keane. The LA Galaxy striker was Ireland’s top scorer during qualifying with five goals and may find it hard to fire on all cylinders having just finished a long MLS season.
