Northern Ireland v Estonia
Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill sat his players down at their hotel base on the outskirts of Belfast earlier this week and told them to believe.
Believe you can turn Mission Impossible into Mission Accomplished.
Believe you can upset the odds and finish above Germany or the Netherlands in a daunting qualifying Group C.
Believe you can plot an unlikely route to next summer’s Euro 2020 finals which are being held in a dozen host cities across 12 European countries.
And believe you can conjure up a feat of folklore proportions that would stand alongside any other achievement in almost 140 years of Irish football history.
Northern Ireland vs Estonia Euro qualifier: Michael O'Neill wants fast start to campaign
The opening chapters of a potential fairytale will be written against Estonia this evening and Belarus on Sunday.
And at risk of stating the obvious, there is no room for error.
“These games are essential, there’s no point saying otherwise,” said O’Neill.
“You’d still have games to make up the arrears, but if we’re realistic, we have to do everything possible to win these games.
“Our other two home games are against Germany and Holland, so without being disrespectful to Estonia and Belarus, these are two of our easier fixtures.
“The way the schedule has come out means these games are essential for momentum.
"They are an opportunity to put points on the board.”
With the Germans and Dutch teeing off against each other in Amsterdam on Sunday, Northern Ireland have the opportunity to top the pool after this week’s double header.
Two positive results in Estonia and Belarus in June would keep them in the mix before Germany visit Windsor Park on September 9.
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O’Neill said: “When you’re a smaller nation you need to be out in front in a qualifying campaign because it’s very difficult to try and come from behind.
“We’ll be aiming to do that and the onus is on us to perform and set ourselves up with three points ahead of the Belarus game.”
While Northern Ireland are outsiders to gatecrash the finals, O’Neill takes heart from the province’s recent qualifying record.
En route to the Euro 2016 finals in France and the 2018 World Cup playoffs 16 months ago, 12 wins and just four defeats were recorded in 20 qualifiers across both campaigns.
“We have a win percentage of 60 percent in 20 qualifying games over the last four or five years,” said O'Neill.
“We’ve only lost one home qualifier in that period if you take the World Cup play-off with Switzerland out of it, so there are a lot of positives to look at.
“The only home qualifier we lost was against Germany and I don’t think there’s any shame in that. We’ve become a team that knows how to get results.”
And while Northern Ireland finished pointless in last year’s Nations League against Austria and Bosnia, O’Neill is confident his team is “evolving with younger players coming in”.
The likes of Norwich City left-back Jamal Lewis, wingers Jordan Jones and Gavin Whyte and midfielder George Saville have injected mobility into the team.
“We have more legs and running power than at any time in the past,” he said. “That allows us to play with a higher intensity and that’s how we intend to approach these games.
“I’m looking forward to it and I also sense that in the players.”
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