Northern Ireland v Poland (Windsor Park, 3.0): On the wall beneath the railway bridge that supporters cross to get into Windsor Park is a mural. Belfast is full of such paintings and when the picture is of a blacked-out face with a white question mark on it, generally the scene is worrisome.
Who's next? On Windsor Park's bridge there is one such image but the happy news is that the unknown face is placed alongside those of Peter Doherty, Danny Blanchflower and George Best.
Who's next remains the question and, though there is no one of the current generation of Northern Ireland footballers who gets beyond boot-cleaning in such company, a player who is able to stimulate a winning performance today against Poland would be accorded hero status.
And the locals, as they say, are up for it. This game, like every other at Windsor Park for these World Cup qualifiers, is sold out.
Windsor holds only 14,000 these days but the presence of England and Wales in the group, plus a ticket scheme whereby seats for all the home games had to be bought together, has ensured 100 per cent commitment. There has also been a shirt-buying campaign in order to make the stadium as green as possible to generate atmosphere.
Add to this the fact that Northern Ireland are unbeaten in six matches and the feel-good factor surrounding Lawrie Sanchez's team is unmistakable.
Whether it is realistic is perturbing Sanchez. "I keep hearing we are expected to beat Poland," he said. "But if everyone in the group performs to their level then we will finish fifth."
Sanchez did, however, permit himself a little romance: "We hear a lot about the Northern Ireland teams of the 1958 World Cup, of 1982 and 1986. It would be nice to get people talking about the team of 2006 in Germany. Maybe it's time for this group to write their history."
Sanchez was cautious but relaxed. The former Wimbledon player and Wycombe Wanderers manager knows that six months after his humbling debut as Sammy McIlroy's successor people are at least wanting to watch Northern Ireland play.
It is a mini-achievement given that at home to Norway in mid-February he trudged off at half-time, his new charges 3-0 down. "Thanks for the introduction" were his first words in the dressing-room.
Bleak it may have been but surprising it was not. Under McIlroy the Irish had gone through the European Championship qualifiers without scoring a goal. When David Healy pulled one back against Norway, Northern Ireland's time without scoring was 1,299 minutes - or two years and five days, or 13 matches.
The following month came their first win since 2001, in Estonia. Again Healy was the scorer and he then scored in each of the three summer tour games in the West Indies. When Northern Ireland drew 0-0 in Switzerland a fortnight ago they had gone six games unbeaten.
The Poles, who play England on Wednesday, appear vulnerable. They failed, behind Sweden and Latvia, to reach Euro 2004 and have just lost 5-1 at home to Denmark. But as Sanchez reminded everyone: "Poland are 80 places above us in the FIFA rankings and if I was their manager I'd expect to win."
If so, the Poles can prepare for England content. But Liverpool's Jerzy Dudek identified that England game as Poland's problem today.
"It's been hard to think about this game because everyone is talking about the England game," he said. "Nobody seems to be thinking about this game and that is risky. We must be careful."
NORTHERN IRELAND (4-4-1-1, probable): Taylor (Birmingham); Hughes (Newcastle), Craigan (Motherwell), Williams (Milton Keynes), Capaldi (Plymouth); Johnson (Birmingham), McVeigh (Norwich), Whitley (Sunderland) Elliott (Hull); Hughes (Crystal Palace); Healy (Preston).
POLAND (4-4-2, probable): Dudek; Klos, Bak, Rzasa, Zewlakow; Krzynowek, Kukielka, Lewandowski, Kosowski; Rasiak, Zurawski.
Referee: I Wegereet (Netherlands).
Guardian Service
