Tonight will reveal a lot about the moral courage of the players in this Irish team. Mick McCarthy has predictably picked a team with the intention of avoiding a loss, a feat which while possible will be difficult to achieve, partly due to the formation of the Irish side and partly because of the capricious nature of this Yugoslav team.

The 4-5-1 line-up McCarthy has employed represents a gamble, particularly with Niall Quinn selected as the sole attacking option. To utilise his presence, the Irish will have to engineer space along both flanks and the quality of ball directed at Quinn - especially from Jason McAteer and Damien Duff - will need to be flawless, absolutely pin-point accurate.

Anything else and we will essentially just be conceding possession on a regular basis, which could be fatal to our hopes. I am convinced that 4-4-2 is the pattern most suited to this current Irish squad, given the attacking options we now possess.

But it would be remiss of me to predict doom for this side purely on the basis of its formation. Obviously, Mick McCarthy is approaching the match with an understandably defensive mindset and will have impressed upon his players the importance of not getting caught in possession, of avoiding the temptation to rush into the tackle and, most crucially, of never putting themselves in situations which might lead to their dismissal.

The key to preserving this collective defensive mentality rests with the midfield and the five who start tonight all have the resolve and acumen to maintain their structure, knuckle down and win ball and to impose some sort of diktat in terms of the pace of the game. I can see why Alan McLoughlin has been called up, he is a solid midfield presence who may just poach a goal.

Glancing through the team as a whole, once again the central defensive combination seems to be our most vulnerable area. Kenny Cunningham is a good Premiership player, solid if rarely outstanding. Gary Breen is, I feel, one of those players who will always make some mistake somewhere along the way. It's a trait he shares with Phil Babb. Even at his best, he is likely to suffer some sort of unlikely and potentially fatal lapse. So, if this combination is to work, Breen will possibly attack the ball, with Cunningham dropping behind to sweep up any untidy clearances.

Either side of them, Steve Staunton and Denis Irwin ought to ooze composure - they are rarely caught in possession, seldom wander out of position and they really ought to be capable of adapting to the demands tonight.

Yugoslavia remain as enigmatic as ever. You can wax lyrical about the peerless skill of the likes of Predrag Mijatovic or Stankovic, who has impressed in Serie A with Lazio, and Mihajlovic but they have yet to convince as a team. Yugoslavia possess many undeniably gifted players but what struck me most about them in the World Cup was their utter inconsistency. They can both dazzle and draw yawns over the same 90-minute spell. Against Germany, they were mesmerising for 60 minutes but lacked the mental strength or instinct to finish the game.

They perceive their own World Cup experience as having been wholly negative and while the proclamations of their intent to reaffirm their status as first-rate exponents of total football may sound ominous from an Irish perspective, they may also back fire.

Sure, when the teams run out tonight, the stadium will be shaking with the national fervour sparked by the 60,000 crowd and the Irish lads will probably get a pretty hostile reception, but if they can keep matters equal, the crowd will grow lethargic and subdued eventually.

The political backdrop of this encounter, the apparent difficulties which the Irish squad encountered upon arriving in Belgrade and the FIFA five-day rule fiasco are all factors which could arguably serve to unhinge the Irish effort a little.

But none can be used as excuses. The FIFA ruling was a joke - they more or less washed their hands of the situation in the wording of their directive and made themselves looked farcical. But most of the lads played on Saturday and have had four days to recover which should be sufficient. They should put the incident behind them now.

In the past, travelling to eastern Europe was considered a fairly daunting experience - I remember travelling to Russia with Liverpool in the 1970s and we went there with a siege mentality, bringing our own food and water, basically trusting nobody.

FIFA implementations have made such trips a lot less arduous now and there tends to be a uniformity of standards in terms of the dressing-rooms, accommodation, small things that can affect you.

But the bottom line is that these lads are professionals. No matter how intimidating the atmosphere may appear to be tonight, it should not unnerve the Irish, nor do I expect it to.

Men like Roy Keane, Staunton and Irwin thrive in tense matches, guys like McAteer and Quinn cut their teeth in highly-charged games, Shay Given is rapidly growing accustomed to the rigours of international soccer. They should hold steady.

In short, Mick McCarthy would be thrilled to bits with a draw tonight and the team are capable of attaining that, particularly if it transpires that our hosts are still in mediocre form.

But the potential of the Yugoslav team cannot be understated. They can be blindingly deft while in possession, are lethally skilful and while it is possible to envisage Ireland containing them, it is equally plausible that we could be stung for three goals or more.

So tonight is our first real test of this European campaign, an occasion which will exact every ounce of mental strength and physical presence and poise a player can offer. At every level, it comes down to basics - mental attitude, comfort in possession, hunger and will. Yugoslavia may outclass us in terms of footballing wizardry but Ireland are one of the few international sides left in the world who still possess a real sense of camaraderie, an ethos and warmth usually only sustainable at a small club. Rarely will they need to summon that as urgently as this evening.

(In an interview with Keith Duggan)