Republic of Ireland defender Nathan Collins admits he's desperate to help Ireland secure a place at the World Cup and as they begin their qualifying campaign tonight, Collins believes that "something's brewing within the squad".
Ireland take on Hungary at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening for their first game of a short qualifying campaign which will see them play six games in 71 days.
The Boys in Green then travel to Armenia for Tuesday’s match, and six points from those opening two games would set them up nicely before October’s trip to Portugal.
In recent times, Ireland have struggled to start strongly in qualifying, losing their opening two games for both the last European Championships and World Cup campaigns, but a year in to the stewardship of Heimir Hallgrimsson, Collins insists there’s a real belief in the squad.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, he said: " I can feel there's something in the air, you know what I mean? Something's brewing within the squad, the way we've been training and the standards we have been holding each other to.
"The way we're talking about it, there’s a really good vibe at the moment, so we’re all buzzing for Saturday.
"But we've not won a match yet, we've not played a match yet. Everything we've been working towards and everything we need to do is all, all on Saturday.
"It's hard to put into words what I’d do to be able to bring the country to the World Cup. For all the lads, for everyone, for what it would create within the country, I’m desperate to do it.
"I keep saying it but all I can do is focus on Saturday. We need to get off to a good start, and that comes Saturday. We are all desperate to be able to go to a World Cup, and we all want that.
"As a squad and as fans, I feel like we're all pushing in the same direction. It can create such a good environment when we play on Saturday."
Hungary are familiar opponents for Ireland, who claimed a 2-1 victory over the visitors in last June’s international friendly in Dublin.
Troy Parrott scored an injury-time winner in that game, ending a 14-match unbeaten streak for the Hungarians but Collins does not believe that result will have any bearing on Saturday’s encounter.
"It's a World Cup qualifier, it's a completely different ball game," he said. "Anything can happen and we have to erase that game a bit and just go into with a fresh mind and think, 'this is 0-0 it's a World Cup qualifier’. We need to be at our best to beat any team.
" There's a lot of good players there, a lot of strong players and the way they play football, it is going to be tough to beat them.
"We're fortunate enough we can be at home to Hungary as a start. It all starts on Saturday, everything we've been working towards as a group for the last few years, it all comes now to Saturday and we're all raring to go.
"If we can get up to a good start, it changes everything."
Watch Republic of Ireland v Hungary in World Cup qualifying on Saturday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to live radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1.
