The Republic of Ireland are entering the home straight, with a cluster of hopefuls jostling for position. Fallers, sadly, are inevitable.
Vera Pauw has spent the last ten days preparing her extended panel for tonight's friendly against Zambia [live on RTÉ2, 7.30pm], with everything leading towards 29 June, the day the manager unveils her final 23-player squad for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
It means that Zambia come to town as a prop is a high-stakes audition. The Africans have some great attacking talent, not least Barbra Banda, the prolific goalscorer who scored back-to-back hat-tricks at the Tokyo Games.
They made the semi-finals of the 2022 African Cup of Nations and possess similiar qualities to Nigeria, who are housed in Ireland's tough World Cup group.
But as far as a lot of the Irish players are concerned, the focus will be on themselves. There's a few of them in the last-chance saloon and they will be desperate to shoot the lights out.
"Of course there is the core that we know," said Pauw, who intends to make plenty of half-time changes. "But then [there are] the ones that we really, really want to find out and give the players the chance."
"I'll fight for my place until the last day, of course, but I need to remember the bigger picture."
Like Leanne Kiernan. The Liverpool striker missed most of the season with an ankle injury but she's fresh and hungry to prove she's worth a place on the plane.
"We did not bring Leanne in because of the 20 minutes [she played for Liverpool at the end of the campaign]," Pauw said.
"We brought her in to give her the time to grow.
"We will see where she is. She is available, she is fit but how fit we will see. Match [fitness] is something else than what you show in training.
"There are also players we will protect who are coming back from injury because now is not the right time for them to be on the pitch but Leanne will have some time on the pitch."
Chloe Mustaki is another who will hope to get a chance. The Bristol City defender hasn't started for her country since excelling in the crucial 1-1 draw against Sweden over a year ago.
Mustaki has overcome lymphoma and a cruciate ligament injury to carve out a career as a pro footballer. She is very capable of keeping things in perspective.
"Twelve months ago I walked away from a full-time job [to join Bristol City from Shelbourne], so a lot has happened," she said.
"For me, personally, whatever happens in the next week or so, I can just be happy and proud with what I have achieved in the past 12 months. But it has been fantastic. Having gone through a bit of a difficult time this season I'm just glad to be involved at the moment.
"I'll fight for my place until the last day, of course, but I need to remember the bigger picture - I was out for quite a while. But it has been fantastic. I was working a full-time job up to this time last year, so it has been an amazing whirlwind 12 months and that night in Hampden Park, I’ll never forget that."
Katie McCabe came into camp last Monday after having an extended break due to the minutes she clocked up at Arsenal. Pauw confirmed she's unlikely to feature tonight, whle the US-based trio of Denise O'Sullivan, Sinead Farrelly and Marissa Sheva will link up with the squad on 26 June due to their club commitments in the NWSL, which is in full swing.
The main injury concern is Aoife Mannion, who is still in a leg brace as she recovers from a knee injury. Ireland are giving her every possible chance to prove her fitness, but Pauw admitted "it's really, really tight". Things will become clearer on Monday, when the brace is removed.
As for the game itself, we can expect a competitive outing.
There are 55 world ranking places between the two teams; Ireland are 22nd, while Zambia are 77th. However the visitors should prove awkward opponents for an Irish side in a slight state of flux, with key players absent and frequent in-game alterations inevitable.
They have loads of pace: the skillful, Evarine Katongo, Racheal Nachula - a former 400m sprinter who represented Zambia at the 2008 Olympic Games - and wide attacker Xiomara Mapepa to name but three.
Grace Chanda is a clever, technical midfield operator and then there's Banda, a direct, powerful forward with a lethal eye for goal.
"It's getting used to the African style of play because that is really different to European, so we need to feel that, need to see that, need to experience that," Pauw reflected.
"If you first experience that at the World Cup, you are too late."
Once the whistle blows in Tallaght, the countdown to that squad announcement begins.
The players will be able to do no more in terms of staking a claim. They'll each meet with Pauw to learn their fate, the manager admitting the thoughts of having to break bad news has been giving her "sleepless nights".
As Mustaki eloquently put it: "Yeah I'd be lying if I said we didn't [talk about the squad], we’re human at the end of the day. We all want it as much as each other but we’re there fully 100% supporting each other and I think that’s the beauty of who we are as people, as Irish citizens, that we just support each other to the last dying moment.
"For whoever doesn’t unfortunately make the cut we’ll just be rooting each other on for the first game, the second game, the third game and hopefully many more."
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Watch Republic of Ireland v Zambia on Thursday night from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app
