Heimir Hallgrimsson expects to see the best of his Ireland team when they take on Portugal at Aviva Stadium tomorrow evening, and is convinced that the players are ready to rise to the occasion.
The manager is attempting to block out the noise of what is going to happen in the other group game and focus on his own side's approach to taking on Portugal, but fully expects Ireland to need a positive result at Lansdowne Road to remain in the World Cup conversation ahead of Sunday’s trip to Budapest.
Hungary, of course, are in action in Yerevan, looking to beat Armenia and heap the pressure on Ireland ahead of kick-off, and should they win comfortably it will mean that Hallgrimsson’s side would probably have to beat Portugal to have a fighting chance of taking second place.
Either way, the manager feels that there is only one way to play against Portugal, and that is with a strong focus on defence and attempting to nullify their "unique" attacking style.
Ireland managed to frustrate Portugal and limit their opportunities in Lisbon last month before they were cruelly undone in injury-time when Ruben Neves' header sealed the points.
Hallgrimsson expects more of the same from the visitors and concedes that his side cannot cancel out all of their attacking options, however, he feels that his players can be better in possession and hopes home advantage plays its part to create a different and difficult atmosphere inside the arena.
"It's probably the one that has most riding on it, but like we've said before, we don't know how much is at stake until after the Armenia game against Hungary," said Hallgrimsson, speaking at the pre-match press conference in Dublin. "Then we can answer that question again.
"It might be irrelevant, but we at least need a point from this game. Of course, it's a World Cup riding on it if that's the case, so yeah, definitely [the biggest game since taking charge]."
"Our approach is not going to change, so we need to play a certain style versus Portugal, whether we need a win or a draw, we need to play a certain style," he added, when asked about the permutations of the other game.
"We can't go all-in against a team like Portugal, it's not going to be a basketball match. Then we will take calculated risks if we need to score a goal later on in the game."
"I'm pretty sure, yes," said Hallgrimsson, when asked if the cup final scenario would bring out the best of his players.
"Just the way the players are behaving, knowing them. Every true professional likes to play a game like this, there's a lot riding on it. Every player likes and wants to play a game like this every week.
"We have a plan for it and the players must be ready psychologically for this encounter."
While Ireland frustrated Portugal in that opening game, Hallgrimsson still expects Roberto Martinez’s side to maintain the same attacking style in Dublin, while making minor adjustments in their quest to create more goalscoring opportunities.
And Hallgrimsson emphasised how the Cristiano Ronaldo factor brings a lot more than the striker’s individual qualities, with his determination to score goals driving the team on in a relentless attacking fashion.
"They probably would tweak a few things given that they didn't create a lot of goalscoring chances against us," said Hallgrimsson. "They had some shots from outside and some crosses. But I think we kind of controlled how they attacked us.
"We cannot defend all their threats, it's impossible. So we need to give some areas and then we know what to expect. Hopefully we can do similar things tomorrow.
"I think his statistics just speak for itself," said Hallgrimsson, when asked the obligatory Ronaldo question.
"He's still scoring a lot of goals, breaking records. One of the reasons they are such a unique attacking team is his desire to score goals. They will deliver crosses, they will try to find him all the time.
"Most teams when they are winning they would cool the game down, but Portugal likes to score more goals and he is one of the reasons why it's a unique attacking team."
Calculated risks will come late in the game, or perhaps earlier should Portugal take the lead, and while Ireland were at their best when Hallgrimsson commanded them to go "all-in" in the second half against Hungary, he does not really see that as an option against such an attacking threat who thrive in transition.
Hallgrimsson, instead, sees certain situations where Portugal have proved vulnerable, and it is in these moments where he feels his side can go and produce positive play and create goalscoring opportunities.
"In this case the difference is the opponent," said Hallgrimsson. "By far the biggest strength of Portugal is transition.
"When they win the ball they have so much speed, they have so much individual quality, they will punish teams if they get all that possibilities. So we need to be sure that we are not losing possession in dangerous areas.
"But we think we recognise a few weaknesses in their team and we need to be clever to use them.
"I'm not going to say that here because then Roberto will say, oh no, we need to change," he added, with a smirk.
"Be sure that it's a strong team, but there's also some weaknesses in the Portuguese team. And it's our job to try to exploit the weaknesses."
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
