Shay Given will captain the Republic of Ireland in the friendly against Poland tomorrow night in the absence of the injured Robbie Keane. The 32-year-old will lead out his side at at Croke Park as they defend a six-match unbeaten start to manager Giovanni Trapattoni's reign.
The Newcastle goalkeeper, who will be winning his 91st cap, was preferred to Damien Duff and Richard Dunne after Keane was forced to withdraw from the squad with a shoulder injury.
As is his wont, the Italian avoided any drastic changes elsewhere on the pitch, choosing Andy Keogh to fill in for Aiden McGeady on the wing and Hull City striker Caleb Folan to step in for Keane alongside Kevin Doyle.
Otherwise the team is unchanged from the 1-0 World Cup qualifying win over Cyprus at Croke Park last month.
The back four consists of Paul McShane at right back, Kevin Kilbane on the left and the central pairing of John O'Shea and Richard Dunne.
Damien Duff is the other winger and is likely to start on the left. Darren Gibson and Glenn Whelan are again given the task of shoring up the central midfield area.
The squad is training this afternoon and the team is subject to change but the only concern this morning was a bump to head that Doyle picked up at the weekend.
Trapattoni's reluctance to tinker with system or personnel is not surprising given his side's encouraging start to the World Cup qualifying campaign.
He has been at pains to stress the importance of continuity of late and, after two wins and one draw moved his side second behind Italy in Group Eight with a game in hand, he appears to have reassessed the team's prospects for the campaign.
After taking the job, he suggested that second place was the target in a group that contained the world champions, but today his tone was a touch more ambitious.
Asked if he believed his side could edge themselves ahead of the overwhelming favourites, Trapattoni said: "Why not?
"Italy have a very difficult situation at the moment. They have players injured and some players are not at their best - they normally have 35 or 40 players to choose from.
"Italy are the world champions. I have seen their games against Cyprus and Bulgaria and they are a strong team when all their players are fit.
"At the moment, in football, there is not a big difference between big teams and smaller teams.
"The Georgia game (February 11th) will be very, very important for us. If we win against Georgia, we will be level with Italy."
Rep of Ireland (v Poland):Given (captain), McShane, O'Shea, Dunne, Kilbane, Keogh, Whelan, Gibson, Duff, Folan, Doyle. Substitutes from:Keiren Westwood, Joe Murphy, Alex Bruce, Damien Delaney, Kevin Foley, Keith Andrews, Stephen Hunt, Liam Miller, Noel Hunt, Anthony Stokes, Shane Long
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