Paths criss-cross all the time in football, so it's no great surprise that the career of Belgium boss Elisabet Gunnarsdottir has swerved into Irish-hued lanes a couple of times.
Twenty-three years ago, the Icelander got her first break in management thanks to Republic of Ireland men's head coach Heimir Halgrimsson. A year and a half ago, she was was in the running to replace Carla Ward at Aston Villa.
Gunnarsdottir was outmaneuvered by Ward in Friday's first leg of the Nations League promotion/relegation play-off, her team slumping to a 4-2 loss. Now she's plotting a big response at Den Dreef Stadium in Leuven, near Brussels.
"We are very aware that we had a collective off day in Ireland, but there are always two aspects to a game like that," reflected Gunnarsdottir.
"You have two teams on the field, so it's not only about your own performance, it's also about the opponents, and Ireland really showed up from minute one with aggressiveness and a game of duels that showed more will than we had in our team.
"The game will be about us or them. It's only one team going through from this to the big goal.
"Football is a really complex and weird sport in many ways because you always highlight the team and the importance of the team spirit, but it's also about certain individuals with their skills making that difference on a game day, like we saw Katie McCabe do for Ireland. This is also important.
"The team needs to play with discipline and structure, but at the same time be ready mentally for the game because it's a completely different type of game."
Gunnarsdottir opened up on the part Hallgrimsson played in the embryonic stages of her career. In 2002, while working as a dentist in Vestmannaeyjar, Hallgrimmson was managing the women's team at local club IBV. When he was offered the assistant coach job with the men's side, he encouraged Gunnarsdottir to fill the void he was leaving behind.
"When I was 25, Heimir was coaching a women's team on an island outside Iceland," she recalled.
"He approached me to take over after him and I did. He hired me to take over his team. That is how we met each other for the first time.
"We're not close friends having contact about everything, but we know each other."
Belgium will have towering Crystal Palace midfielder Justine Vanhaevermaet and Hoffenheim attacker Jill Janssens back tonight as both return from suspension.
There's pressure on the hosts to pull this out of the fire, so Ireland can probably expect an early onslaught.
"For us, our focus will be on performing from minute one, not talking too much about the emergency scenarios that have to occur," added Gunnarsdottir.
"We need to show up as a team and perform from minute one and show reactions to what we did on Friday. That's the most important thing. And if you do that through 90 minutes, you have a good option to get into a game like this.
"I think the second goal we scored in Ireland is crucial for us. It would have been a little bit of a different mountain to climb.
"Two goals is really, really possible."
Watch Belgium v Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Women's Nations League play-offs on Tuesday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to live radio commentary on an extended Game On with 2fm.
