Ireland might be considered major underdogs ahead of their World Cup qualifying clash with Portugal, however, Josh Cullen is reluctant to accept the tag ahead of the vital Aviva Stadium encounter.
A whopping 57 places separate fifth-ranked Portugal and Ireland's slot in 62nd position in the world rankings, however, there was just one injury-time header between the sides in Lisbon last month when Ruben Neves secured the points for the home side.
Portugal sit five points clear in Group F, and yet, they are still not guaranteed automatic qualification; their final two games of the group are against Ireland, and Armenia next Sunday.
So first, the trip to Dublin, and while Roberto Martinez’s side will be anxious to get the job done in their penultimate outing, Ireland midfielder Cullen has other ideas.
The Burnley man is convinced that Ireland can go one better in this game and secure, at least, a draw against this much-fancied Portugal side.
Cullen is taking confidence from the performance in Portugal, where a well-organised and defensively sound Ireland unit nullified Cristiano Ronaldo & Co right until the dying embers of the fixture.
Coupled with that, Cullen believes that the elite sides, such as Portugal, will often go into such scenarios with attack being their main focus, which allows for defensive lapses for the perceived weaker teams to exploit.
"I think we can take a lot of heart and a lot of positives from the performance in terms of containing a world-class side until the very end," said Cullen, speaking to the media from the Ireland camp.
"We know that the mindset needs to be that we need to go one better and we need to keep that sort of discipline about us to keep them at bay, but also show a bit on the other side of the game as well, in terms of attacking and trying to go forward and get the goal that we're going to need to give ourselves a chance of winning the game.
"There'll be confidence taken from that for sure and look, we've come in, met up as a squad and had a meeting, and the message is clear that we have that belief that we know we can go and get a result.
"We're going to need to be right at the top of our game, we're going to need to prepare so well, but we believe we can do it and that's where the mindset is at the moment."
Heimir Hallgrimsson stated previously that it will take a perfect performance to get a result in Thursday’s game, and Cullen echoed the manager’s sentiments, while adding that he believes the confidence is there to make it happen.
Cullen also suggested that the team may need to be braver in their approach, most notably in possession in order to get Ireland’s creative players into the right positions.
"A performance at the very top of what we can provide," said Cullen, when asked about how to achieve the required result. "I think we know the calibre of team and players we're up against.
"We can take a lot of confidence from the game last month, and confidence that we can nullify a team with the players they have.
"But also taking the lessons that we can probably be a little bit braver in possession, and we've got good players in possession who can hurt this side as well.
"When you play against top sides and the so-called better sides in the world, sometimes their main focus in their performance isn't the defensive side of the game, so when you do get that chance to have possession, I feel that there are areas that we can exploit.
"That's just something that I took away from the game and from being on the pitch, that there is areas that we can exploit this team when we have the ball.
"And that's taking nothing away from the great players they have of course and we know that it's going to be another great challenge and a tough test for us but I think there's belief there that we can hurt this team when we have possession.
"That's the sort of mentality that I think we need to take into the game as well as the defensive discipline and all those defensive traits that we know we're going to need to have as well."
Cullen urged caution, however, about paying too much attention to the other game in the group, which will be finished before Ireland and Portugal kick off.
A two or three-goal victory for Hungary in Armenia will make Ireland’s task even tougher and will almost certainly make them need all three points against Portugal, but Cullen is adamant that the team’s focus remains on the game that they can influence.
"I think we have to be fully focused on ourselves," said Cullen. "In professional sport at the top level, once you start focusing on what other people are doing I think you take your eye off the ball.
"We know the challenge we have, and we just have to be fully focused on doing our job and that will be the focus from now until the game."
As for the underdog status, Cullen dismissed the notion, as it does not correlate with the mindset of a professional footballer, where you have to believe that you can compete no matter the opposition.
"I think you can never go into a Premier League game or an international game feeling as though you're the underdog," said Cullen. "I think you always have a belief and a mentality that you're going into a game it's 11 players against 11 players.
"You have that mentality, and you build that throughout the week. In the preparation for the game, you build the confidence from your preparation, and no matter who you're up against you can go and beat them, and this week will be no different.
"People from outside the camp and outside the squad will see us as the underdogs but we put an expectation on ourselves as a group to perform well and believe that we can go and win the game and it has to be a positive mindset and that's where we're at right now."
Watch Republic of Ireland v Portugal in World Cup qualifying on Thursday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
