From an Ireland point of view, the 27th and France has been the tip of the mountaintop just about visible on the horizon since the Euro 2024 qualifier fixtures were confirmed last autumn.
But now that the rubicon into March has been crossed, the task for Stephen Kenny's side against the 2022 World Cup runners-up looms larger and larger as that Aviva Stadium date approaches.
And the most talked about Irish player on the road towards that match - and the earlier friendly to come versus Latvia - has undoubtedly been Evan Ferguson.
Since the Boys in Green's last fixtures against Norway and Malta last November, the 18-year-old has scored his first three Premier League goals and netted the winner for Brighton at Stoke in the FA Cup fifth round at the end of February.
His progress marks a remarkable rise, having made his senior football debut with Bohemians back in in July 2019 in a friendly against Chelsea when he was, incredibly, just 14.
The man who gave him that first shot at the big time was Keith Long and the ex-Bohs manager joined the RTÉ Soccer Podcast this week alongside former St Pat's and Shelbourne boss Johnny McDonnell.
Naturally, the subject of Ferguson came up given his current status within the game and Long shared his insight into what the next step of the striker's evolution will look like.
Keith Long and Johnny McDonnell joined Raf Diallo and Anthony Pyne on this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast with the latest LOI action among the talking points:
"He's been compared to the likes of Harry Kane and he's been the outstanding striker of his generation in the Premier League. If Evan was to get anywhere close to Harry Kane, he'd be having a fantastic career," said Long, who managed Ferguson until the player's departure to Brighton in January 2021.
"But it's difficult to pigeon-hole players to try and compare them. Evan is very much his own player, his own man and his aptitude and mentality is first class.
"He's got lots of different attributes. He's big, he's physical, he's strong and has been like that since a very young age, hence the reason why he came into men's football so quickly.
"He's got lots of strings to his bow in terms of his game. His link-up play and back-to-goal play is very good. His finishing, he can score with the head, score off both feet and his movement in the box and the final third is really sharp, precise and clever.
"He's young, he's still going to develop, still going to adapt and is coming on the radar of lots and lots of big clubs. Brighton will want to hold onto him as long as possible.
"He needs to stay in that environment would be my view for this moment and continue to develop, learn and improve as a player and I think he's in the right place at this moment in time to do that."
Long added that the fact Ferguson is getting plenty of minutes in the Premier League marks him out above the host of other Irish strikers who largely ply their trade in the Championship, while McDonnell predicted that Kenny will pick him to start against France should he be fit and available.
"The ceiling for Evan is endless and where he can get to and where he can end up is all in the future. We don't know in this moment in time," said Long.
"All I know is the support system and his attitude to the game is first class and he won't be getting carried away. He'll take things in his stride as he's done so far."
That support system includes Ferguson's parents, with father Barry a former professional footballer in the League of Ireland and in England.
'There's a large part of Evan, I'm sure, that will embrace the opportunity to become Ireland's talisman'
Long consulted them back in 2019 before giving the youngster an early introduction to the Bohs first team and while Ferguson's physicality was evident even at 14, it's the mentality that his former manager still remembers fondly.
"Evan drives his own standards. He wants to improve, he wants to be challenged and he wants to be put in that environment where he's going to grow and be exposed to high quality training and high quality players playing against the highest level of opposition that he possibly can," he said.
"What stood out to me was his mentality, his aptitude, drive, determination and focus to become a top, top player.
"Even at such an early age he came into training with first team at Bohs, it didn't faze him in any way shape or form. Some of the players in the Bohs dressing room would've known Evan and his reputation around academy and schoolboy football in Dublin. So he came into the environment like a duck to water."
And with two Irish senior caps already under his belt having progressed through the underage international ranks, Long said that while it's imperative not to put too much pressure on Ferguson, "there's a large part of Evan, I'm sure, that will embrace the opportunity to become Ireland's talisman."
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
