A glance at England's record against Turkey, the top seeds in Group 7, could lead England supporters to assume that qualifying for Portugal 2004 will be a formality. Between 1984 and 1993, England won seven of their eight competitive meetings, drew the other and scored 29 goals while conceding none.

To say Turkish football has enjoyed a drastic improvement over the ensuing decade would be an understatement. Of the last four major tournaments, Turkey have missed out only on France 98, booking their passage to the Far East this year with a 6-0 aggregate victory over Austria in a play-off. Their club football is also thriving – witness Galatasaray's Uefa Cup final defeat of Arsenal in 2000 – while players like Tugay (Blackburn) and Alpay (Aston Villa) are established in the Premiership.

Expectations have been raised to the extent that the national coach, Senol Gunes, was vilified for failing to secure automatic qualification. But a measure of the task confronting England can be gauged from the fact that Turkey overcame the Republic of Ireland in a play-off to take part in the last European finals. The crowd trouble in Bursa at the end of the second leg, months after the killing of two Leeds fans in Istanbul, makes it inevitable the fixture in Turkey will be staged against the backdrop of a major security operation.

By coincidence, all England's opponents, except Liechtenstein, were in the same World Cup qualifying section – along with Sweden, who they will meet in Japan – which theoretically makes Sven Goran Eriksson's job easier when he studies the videos. England's record against his home country is as poor as their sequence against Turkey is impressive, but the group meetings between the Turks and Swedes, which produced a draw in Gothenburg and a last-gasp Swedish away win, point to a parity between them and a tough ride for England.

Using the group results as a guide to the strengths of England's rivals indicates that Slovakia will not be dismissed lightly, either. The Slovaks, who included Sunderland's Stanislav Varga and Celtic's Lubomir Moravcik, finished third, their best performances coming when they drew in Turkey and at home with Sweden. Otherwise they are a largely unknown quantity, having had only one brush with these islands since the split with the Czech Republic, a 1-0 win in Northern Ireland in 1998. But England are no strangers to the capital, Bratislava, where the 2-1 loss sustained against Czechoslovakia in 1975 effectively cost them a trip to the finals.

While Macedonia also held Turkey away, 3-3, and lost only 2-1 at home to both the Turks and Sweden, they finished their 10-game schedule with a single win, against Azerbaijan. Again, though, the Irish experience highlights the folly of underestimating the former Yugoslav republic. On the verge of the victory they needed to reach Euro 2000, Mick McCarthy's team were denied by a last-minute equaliser in Skopje.

Liechtenstein's only competitive win also came against Azerbaijan, four years ago, since when the part-timers of the principality (pop 32,000) have not scored in 15 attempts. Yet their heaviest defeat in World Cup qualifying was a semi-respectable 5-0, in Spain; they have a goalkeeper in Peter Jehle who had trials at Juventus and impressed for Grasshopper Zurich against Leeds; and they embarrassed Jack Charlton by holding the Republic of Ireland 0-0 in 1995.

What is more, Liechtenstein's national anthem has the same tune as "God Save the Queen" (the Windsor version rather than the Sex Pistols' song), which could confuse English visitors to their 3,548-capacity Rheinpark "stadium".

England's record against Turkey

England have never met Liechtenstein, Macedonia or Slovakia at senior level, but have played eight matches against Turkey.

14 November 1984 (World Cup qualifier): Turkey 0 England 8 (Istanbul).

16 October 1985 (World Cup qualifier): England 5 Turkey 0 (Wembley).

29 April 1987 (European Championships qualifier): Turkey 0 England 0 (Izmir).

14 October 1987 (European Championships qualifier): England 8 Turkey 0 (Wembley).

1 May 1991 (European Championships qualifier): Turkey 0 England 1 (Izmir).

16 October 1991 (European Championships qualifier): England 1 Turkey 0 (Wembley).

18 November 1992 (World Cup qualifier): England 4 Turkey 0 (Wembley).

31 March 1993 (World Cup qualifier): Turkey 0 England 2 (Izmir).