The Republic of Ireland begin their 2025 schedule in Bulgaria next Thursday as Heimir Hallgrimsson's side embark on their first steps towards securing a spot at next year's World Cup.
No points up for grabs over the March doubleheader, of course, but impressive performances and aspirational victories will play a vital role when it comes to beginning the World Cup qualifying campaign later this year.
The home and away encounters against the Bulgarians will draw a line under the recent Nations League campaign where Ireland finished third in their four-team group.
The six-game stretch from September to November doubled up as a bedding-in period for the new manager, who went straight into competitive action following his appointment last summer.
A mixed bag of results it must be said, which started and ended with comprehensive defeats to England, while in between there were two further defeats, albeit closer in nature, to Greece, and two hard-fought wins over Finland.
Overall, the manager came through the three-month period relatively unscathed, the second-half collapse at Wembley being the exception, and Hallgrimsson certainly used the time well to get an in-depth knowledge of the players at his disposal.
Almost four months on from that final fixture fiasco, Hallgrimsson was back in front of the media to announce his squad for the upcoming games, and despite the intensity of the Nations League campaign, there remains a strong sense that task at hand remains a work in progress.
Hallgrimsson is experiencing the effect of international management where reality of squad set-up does not present itself until the weeks and days ahead of the next set of fixtures.
"That's the life of a national team coach, you will always have players missing," said Hallgrimsson, in relation to the new-look squad.
"Chieo [Chiedozie Ogbene] was always, until he got injured, in the team; Sammie [Szmodics] has played all the minutes; Seamus [Coleman] was in our head as the number one right-back, so there's nothing we can do about that.
"I haven't had much time, straight into official matches. We have friendlies in June and that gives us an opportunity to look maybe a little bit further ahead and explore players who have not been with us."
As for the players who might be offered a chance to impress during the two games, the manager spoke highly of his latest attacking additions, Rocco Vata and Sinclair Armstrong.
Hallgrimsson believes that Vata could be the type of player who can turn games in his side’s favour, while Sinclair will bring power and pace to his frontline.
"Rocco Vata has had really good performances for Watford, a guy who can win games, and give us something different. He has scored a few really nice goals this season, so it’s nice to see him in our environment, and we're looking forward to working with him."
"No, it's his qualities that he can bring to the table," responded Hallgrimsson, when asked whether Vata’s inclusion was in response to rumblings that Albania were trying to lure him to the country of his father’s birth.
"He did well for the Under-21s, plus like I said before, we have a lot of injuries now in that department and he gives something different.
"It's going to be exciting to see both in training and in games, what he can bring to the table. But he has the potential to become one of the good ones, the best ones, so that's what we see in him.
"He can be a game-changer. He can do amazing things like he has shown for Watford, so that's the reason.
"Sinclair Armstrong, another guy playing really well for his club. He's a little bit different from the strikers we have - lightning speed, strong, physical, et cetera - so for us, a really exciting squad."
Despite the plethora of changes to the squad, the manager can still call on a core group that he can expect to see off the challenge of Bulgaria and set some momentum in progress to take into the games later this year.
However, Hallgrimsson urged caution ahead of the play-off with the third-tier team, as he expects a difficult challenge over the two games, most notably emphasising the opponents' strength in defence.
"First, it's to stay in the Nations League but also to grow as a team, it’s a mix of both," said the manager, in relation to his approach to the play-off while looking ahead to the World Cup campaign.
"Winning those [Bulgaria] matches will give us much more than trying something (out).
"Bulgaria are a really good opponent. They have been impressive; 12 games since [Ilian] Illiev was hired as a coach, and they have only lost one, and that was a real outlier away to Northern Ireland where they were missing four or five starters.
"It’s a tough team, it’s going to be a physical battle, they are compact and hard to break down, so that will be a test for us. If we exclude that outlier, I think they are 0.6 goals per game (conceded) so it shows how difficult it is to score against them.
"I think it’s important to win these two matches, but of course, the big thing is the World Cup qualifiers in September."
