A defiant Robbie Brady has said that whoever Belgium play on Saturday in Bordeaux, he'll be ready for the challenge.
Brady excelled in the Group E draw with Sweden on Monday evening, providing composure and solidity on the Republic of Ireland's right-hand side and earning plenty of praise for his showing.
Kevin de Bruyne and Eden Hazard both sat out training Wednesday after picking up knocks in their 2-0 loss to Italy, but Brady was unmoved by the prospect of both men missing the crucial clash, and admitted he hasn't paid too much attention to Ireland's next opponents.
"There's not too much you can change now," he said. "I know what type of players Belgium have; they've got some top-class players. It'll be my job to stop whoever I'm up against and I'm looking forward to the challenge.
"I've played left-back for the last couple of years now and I feel more at home left-back now, but wherever I'm asked to play I'll be looking forward to doing the job.
"Wherever I'm asked to play I'll be looking forward to doing the job."
"I'm not sure what they're feeling. We know they're a top-class team and they'l be coming in prepared. They're obviously going to be coming to win, as we are. We'll just be doing our part to get ready for them.
"I'm sure they'll be wanting to pick up some sort of result but we'll be concentrating on ourselves."
Martin O'Neill's men emerged from the 1-1 draw with the Swedes with a bittersweet feeling. A fine performance could have yielded all three points but Brady refused to dwell on the result, as he underlined the desire in the camp to make a genuine impact at this tournament.
"It's a fantastic stage. We're delighted to be here. You have to relish it, you can't let it pass you by. We done that [against Sweden]. Hopefully the pre-tournament jitters were shaken off a couple of minutes in and we can push on from here.
"We've got some experienced lads in the team and lads that have played at the top level. You've got to be clued in. Every team has players that can hurt you in a few seconds."
