Connect: Today, England plays Portugal in a World Cup quarter-final. About three-quarters of a million people in this Republic are expected to watch the game. Some will hope for an England win; others will cheer for Portugal. To those committed to either side, it won't matter how "their" team wins. Indeed, an undeserved win can add to the spice and spite of it all.
Portugal supporters, though they would love "their" team to thrash England, will be happy so long as Portugal progress. Numerous disallowed England "goals" - better if shown in replay to be legal - and a dodgy Portuguese win on penalties will do just fine. The reverse will suit England supporters. This game is only peripherally about football. It's really about ancient animosity.
For many people, it's not because one team is Portuguese. Rather it's a case of ABE (Anybody But England). It has however, become fashionable not to care - or, at least, to effect not to care - who wins. Such an attitude is intended to reflect "sophisticated" New Ireland and, after all, it's just "soccer", isn't it? Sure, both teams will field millionaires but many are so gauche, aren't they? Well, what would you expect? They're almost all working-class. David Beckham and his wife, that former Spice person, are vulgar media whores. Wayne Rooney and his woman are chavs. Steven Gerrard has a thick Scouse accent, only eclipsed by that of Jamie Carragher.
And so it goes . . . cheap and resentful dismissals designed to aggrandise the dismisser.
Some of these lads make as much loot in about six weeks as Pat Kenny does in a year.
Few, if any, of those who do are worth it - at least compared with the truly great footballers of yesteryear who ended up penniless, say Garrincha, Ferenc Puskás or George Best - but that's the reality of elite football in 2006. People are right to resent the obscene money as, indeed, they probably resent Kenny's loot.
Then there's the English media. Now there's a reason for wanting Portugal to win. They are, with exceptions, appalling when it comes to England and football. It's hard to know why people who can be so balanced over say, Chelsea v Arsenal, adopt such an imperious attitude towards the teams of almost all other countries.
The late Emlyn Hughes, for instance, during the 1990 World Cup in Italy, was apoplectic that England had drawn 1-1 with the Republic of Ireland. "Eye-aland, Eye-aland," he said, "we've only drawn against Eye-aland." The fact that "Eye-aland" had beaten England 1-0 in Stuttgart two years earlier (and would lead 1-0 in Dublin in 1995 before English hooligans rioted, forcing the match to be abandoned) was beyond him.
Graeme Souness has been excellent as an RTÉ World Cup pundit. A Scot who played for Liverpool, he won three European Cups there. He later managed the club, as well as managing Glasgow Rangers, Newcastle United and Galatasaray of Turkey. He's still recalled in Istanbul for planting a Galatasaray flag in the centre circle of bitter rivals Fenerbahçe after winning a Turkish Cup final.
"This [ being a pundit on RTÉ] has been a reality check for me," he said. John Giles, Liam Brady and Eamon Dunphy were rightly derisory at BBC correspondent Garth Crooks's remark to Sven-Goran Eriksson about the 4-5-1 system "working" during England's laboured 1-0 win against Ecuador. It seemed as though Souness had just realised how abject English media can be.
Even though he's a Scot, he probably wouldn't have noticed it in England. Analysis during this World Cup has, as ever, been superior on RTÉ even though match commentary on British channels remains better. Adding Souness to the RTÉ panel has worked well. He clearly understands that his job is to call games as he sees them and not to prattle on condescendingly.
Anyway, back to England v Portugal. England has not played attractive football but Portugal's match against Holland was dire. Perhaps the Dutch full back Khalid Boulahrouz, known as "The Cannibal", started the rot by kicking Cristiano Ronaldo, but the play-acting Portuguese - Luis Figo especially - were little better. In that sense, England's tractor football should, at least, morally prevail.
But still there's the English media. Oh, it will condemn "mindless" hooligans (while vile tabloids encourage them), but there remains a residual class poison about English football reflected in English media too. Whenever England is beaten, as seems likely, will its media accept it with good grace? Surely there's a link between yobbism and media thuggery.
Portugal had an empire centuries before the British. It conquered territories in Africa, Asia and South America (Brazil still speaks Portuguese). But few Portuguese are as imperious as even the least ignorant English. National pride is one thing but respect for other countries is quite another. The English media (with, as ever, exceptions) doesn't seem to "do" respect for Johnny Foreigner.
So, today's clash is between two former colonisers. I expect England will win because Portugal's playmaker Deco is suspended. I don't however, despite vestigial admiration for the vulgarians, chavs and Scouse accents, want England to win the World Cup. The country's arrogant media has seen to that. What a sad shower? Do you agree, Graeme?