Wolves forward Stephen Ward says the Republic of Ireland players must treat Friday's clash with Estonia as the 'biggest game' they have played in.
The Irish national team meet the Estonians in the first leg of the final Euro2012 qualification round in Tallinn and Ward has highlighted the importance of performing out of their skins to land a positive result ahead of the return bout in Dublin next Tuesday.
"We have to approach it as if it is the biggest game we are ever going to play in," he told RTE Sport.
"With the manager (Giovanni Trapattoni) we have there is no way any of us will underestimate them. They have come through quite a difficult group to get to the play-offs so they have to be respected.
"We have got a chance of achieving something great for us as players, so we need to go out as if we are playing anyone in the world and make sure we do everything to the best of our ability.
"You need to make sure that you are mentally strong for this week, because people will probably put us down as favourites, but I don't think Ireland have done too many things the easy way."
