Robbie Keane must score in Moscow today to claim a special place in Irish football history.
The Spurs striker will become the first Irish player ever to score in five consecutive internationals if he hits the target in the Republic's opening Euro 2004 qualifier against Russia.
The 22-year-old striker has scored in Ireland's last four games, kicking off with his dramatic last-gasp equaliser against Germany in the World Cup finals.
He followed up with goals against Saudi Arabia and Spain, then continued his scoring streak in the friendly against Finland last month, taking his tally to 14 goals in 38 games, seven of which have come this year.
Keane's goalscoring exploits have put him level with Fionan Fagan, who scored in four successive games for Ireland in 1960, but another goal in the Lokomotiv Stadium will set Keane out on his own.
Paddy Moore, Jimmy Dunne, Con Martin, Arthur Fitzsimons, Dermot Curtis and Frank Stapleton all scored in three successive games for Ireland but Fagan and Keane are ahead of the pack.
Ireland boss Mick McCarthy is naturally a huge fan of Keane, who rescued the team on more than one occasion in Korea and Japan, and has stuck by him when he failed to command a regular first team place before his move to White Hart Lane last weekend.
"Robbie's a first class player," said McCarthy. "He's somebody on which we rely very heavily upon. We've put a lot on his young shoulders and he repaid us brilliantly in the World Cup finals.
"Robbie's never doing anything other than playing well for us. He's had his moves, and he's had one or two injuries, and other people have suggested that perhaps he was having a dip in form.
"But he's always played well for us. His form during the World Cup where he was training every day, playing regularly, was outstanding.
"He's looked sharp again in training this week, even though he got the yellow jersey once, which might have been down to ring-rustiness, but that doesn't happen too often I can tell you.
"He's been excellent, lively, and in our practice game against the under-21s he and Damien Duff looked very sharp." McCarthy believes the best is yet to come from Keane and that his £7million move from Leeds will benefit him both at club and international level.
"I spoke to Glenn Hoddle about him before but not around the time of this move," added McCarthy. "I think if you settle in your professional life, you get the best out of yourself.
"In the World Cup we saw that, when everyone was together for five weeks, there were no talks of moves going on at all, and Robbie was settled and happy - there was continuity for him.
"I've been a player and I know it is a lot easy to perform at your best when you're comfortable in your environment and if that's the case at Spurs, and I believe it will be, it's good for Robbie and for us."
McCarthy has a full-strength squad to choose from ahead of tonight's game, and Jason McAteer is expected to get the nod ahead of Gary Kelly on the right side of midfield.
Russia are hoping to bounce back from a disappointing World Cup but have been hit by the loss of their star player, teenage striker Dmitri Sychev.
Sychev, 18, who is billed as Russia's answer to Michael Owen, is in a contract dispute with his club Spartak Moscow and has not played since walking out on them last month.
That is the main headache for new coach Valeri Gazzaev, who replaced Oleg Romantsev after the team won only one of their matches in Japan and failed to progress beyond the Group stage.
This will be Gazzaev's first competitive match in charge, following last month's friendly when they drew 1-1 at home to Sweden.