Here come the teams in Dublin...

Looking for England? Scotland? Northern Ireland?Come back on Saturday please. The trio are all in action at the weekend.

A little piece of history is set to be broken tonight, with Kosovo set to host their first competitive match. 

Or at least they are in theory, in actuality their World Cup qualifier against Croatia is being played in Albania.

"Only a few months ago, the idea of Kosovo taking part in the World Cup qualifiers would have been out of the question," writes BBC News' Guy Delauney.

"Its unilaterally declared independence remains unrecognised by more than 80 United Nations member states. Then, in May, first Uefa and then Fifa admitted Kosovo as a member, opening the door to international competition."

Find out more of their story here. 

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Since September 2014, Gareth Bale has been directly involved in over half of Wales' goals (15 of 28, 12 goals and three assists).

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Wales manager Chris Coleman: "The players did a great job against Moldova, it's a different game tonight but we just concentrate on ourselves.

"It's the same team, same formation and they will concentrate on their jobs.

"Austria have a good record at home but it is something to look forward to. You want to be in places like this testing yourself against these teams."

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It's very early days in World Cup qualifying of course, embryonic really. We are just one game in but if you were confused by the structure of the Euros and the chat of a potential 40/48/limitless team World Cup here's the lie of the land as we stand.

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There will be 32 teams in Russia in 2018, of which 13 (plus Russia) will come from Europe.

There are nine groups of either five or six nations, with the nine group winners going straight to the finals and the best eight runners up going into the play-offs.

Clear? Right. 

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Wales convincingly won their opening game, a 4-0 hiding of Moldova.

So far, so fine. Austria away is likely to be the most difficult game of their campaign though - according to world rankings, anyway - so any positive result this evening will be a big tick in the Russia box. 

The Republic of Ireland have not qualified for a World Cup finals since 2002, but they started their own Group D campaign off with a decent result - a 2-2 draw in Serbia.

Follow that up with victory tonight - and they have won all seven of their previous internationals with Georgia - and Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane will be satisfied men. Well, maybe not Roy.

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When are the Republic facing Wales I hear you all say?

24 March 2017 in Dublin, 9 October 2017 in Cardiff. Get in the diary. 

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Republic assistant Roy Keane revealed this week that Salford-born Brentford striker Scott Hogan could be in line for a call-up to the Republic squad after scoring seven goals for the Championship club so far this season.

"The manager has touched base with the player and I think he is due to try meet up in the next few weeks.

"He looks a really good player, a proper goalscorer," said Keane of Hogan, who has three Irish grandparents.

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Austria haven't lost a home qualification game since September 2012 to Germany (W8 D1).

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European giants Italy and Spain have both made managerial changes since the Euros, with Antonio Conte and Vicente del Bosque heading out and Giampiero Ventura and Julen Lopetegui stepping in.

Not heard of Ventura? The 68-year-old has a CV as long as your arm, and has managed Napoli, Sampdoria, Cagliari, Udinese, Bari and Torino among others.

Is he the man to get Italy back at football's top table? We shall see.

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In the away dugout tonight is Lopetegui, a 50-year-old whose main club experience came with Porto, but who has also managed the Spain Under-21s in the past, where he had a 100% win record. An 'Allardyce'.

Wales at the World Cup? Iceland? The Republic of Ireland?

After the so-called 'smaller' teams shone at this summer's Euros which teams do you think could cause an upset or two in Russia in 2018? Let us know on twitter at #bbcfootball, or text us on 81111 (UK Only). 

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The Republic of Ireland have scored in the opening 10 minutes in each of their past three internationals.

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Conquerors of England, and all-round Euro 2016 heroes Iceland are back in action on home soil this evening too.

Their run to the quarter-finals of the Euros will live long in the memory, and after a 1-1 draw in Ukraine in their opening qualifier a win against Finland would seal a good start to the campaign.

A sell-out at Laugardalsvöllur tonight?

Euros? Done.

World Cup? We shall see...

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Alongside Gareth Bale, Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey had a brilliant Euros for Wales. But manager Chris Coleman says he does not know when the midfielder will return from injury.

Ramsey has not played since injuring his hamstring while playing for Arsenal in their opening-day Premier League defeat by Liverpool on 14 August.

The initial estimate was three weeks, but the 25-year-old will miss Wales' 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Austria and Georgia in October.

"The disappointment is we expected him to be here," said Coleman.

"I had an indication that he would only be out for three weeks when he initially did it. That was six weeks ago - so I don't know now.

"I have had more information from Sean [Connelly], our head physio who is liaising with Arsenal, that he has broken down in training. We have not yet been given a date on when he will definitely be back."

You'd be a fool to bet on the winners of Russia 2018 this far out - but for any fools out there you may want to know that Wales are currently 80/1 shots.

Austria? 100/1 to you my friend.

Germany are early favourites, ahead of Argentina and France. 

The Republic of Ireland have lost their record goalscorer Robbie Keane after the LA Galaxy man retired with a whopping 68 goals - level with Gerd Muller.

Watch Keane's "stand-out memory" from his international career, as he scores an injury-time equaliser for the Republic of Ireland against Germany in their Group E match at the 2002 World Cup.

Fancy the dulcet tones of radio commentary to complement our live text feed? Well we've got you covered, with build-up on BBC Radio Cymru, plus live action on both BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio 5 live.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Chris Coleman dismissed those claims by Marcel Koller.

The Wales boss said his side made the last four in France because they were "a good team".

He also had an apparent dig at Koller by claiming a lot of teams went into Euro 2016 with big reputations but "couldn't handle the pressure".

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