Newcastle take on Troyes in the first leg of the Intertoto Cup final at the Stade de L'Aube tonight, confident of going through the backdoor entry into European competition.
Bobby Robson's men are just 180 minutes from Uefa Cup football and defender Aaron Hughes, who marked 1860 Munich's former Germany international star Thomas Hassler out of the game at the semi-final stage, is confident that Newcastle can make it.
"We will just go out and concentrate on our game and try to put in a good performance, and I am sure that, if we play to our potential, we will be all right," he said.
"The gaffer has a bit of information and we will know what to expect, and as long as we can keep it tight at the back, we should be okay."
Newcastle trained at the stadium - at which 500 tickets have been allocated to travelling supporters - last night with Gary Speed having shaken off a knock and Peruvian Nolberto Solano showing no signs of allowing the on-going passport row at home to distract him.
And although first choice strikers Alan Shearer and Carl Cort are both still out, their stand-ins - Shola Ameobi, Craig Bellamy and Lomana Lua Lua - are starting to gel upfront.
Ameobi, in particular, has risen to prominence since first being introduced to the first team squad in the face of a selection crisis last season. And although Shearer and Cort are now on the way back, the 19-year-old has made himself - for the time being at least - an automatic choice.
"This time last year, he wasn't with us, he was still an academy boy," said Robson. "We were unfortunate with injuries to our front scene, and we threw him in against Chelsea when he played against Marcel Desailly.
"So in a year, he has gone from academy football to an England under-21 player, which I think is quite dramatic and says much for the boy."
"When you think he is only a boy - imagine in four or five years' time when he is developed and tough. He might be an inch bigger as well, and add that to this strength, because he is developing all the time, and he is going to be a handful."
