England will meet both Wales and Northern Ireland in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers The three home nations were drawn together in Group Six and will face each other home and away. Austria, Poland and Azerbaijan are the other opponents in the six-team group in Friday's draw in Frankfurt. England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was delighted to have avoided a potential meeting with the Dutch, but denied they had been given an easy passage through to the finals. "I am very glad that we avoided Holland," he said. "I think England have played against Poland many times in these circumstances and have done well. "I think it is a rather good draw - interesting. But it's absolutely not easy. "Wales did very well in qualification for Euro 2004, they could have won the group. It will not be easy at all. "I am sure Wales want to beat England at any cost but we want the same. "Poland always have good football players and it's a good team. Northern Ireland and Wales are interesting, very interesting." Ireland's manager Brian Kerr was not too disappointed with their draw, but admitted they face a stiff test against 1998 world champions France. He said: "I hoped we'd avoid France because they are the top team in the world. But, other than that, we have to be happy.
"We can use Switzerland as motivation after they beat us in the Euro 2004 qualifiers while Israel, Cyprus and the Faroe Islands will present some problems but we should not fear them." Only the eight European group winners and the best two runners-up will qualify for the finals with six other teams taking part in three play-offs. Bureau Report