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Fifa World Cup qualifier: Republic of Ireland v Portugal
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Date: Thursday, 13 November Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Coverage: Live text commentary on BBC Sport website
Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson insists their World Cup qualifier with Portugal in Dublin on Thursday is "not going to be a basketball match."
In last month's reverse fixture in Lisbon, they managed to frustrate Portugal before a Ruben Neves injury-time winner snatched a 1-0 win for the hosts.
Victory over Armenia followed for the Republic of Ireland to leave them in third place in Group F and a point behind second-placed Hungary.
"Our approach is not going to change. We need to play a certain style against Portugal, whether we need a win or a draw, we need to play a certain style," Hallgrimsson said.
"We can't go all-in against a team like Portugal. It's not going to be a basketball match and then we will take calculated risks if we need to score a goal later on in the game.
"We have a plan for it and the players must be ready psychologically for this encounter."
The 58-year-old does not expect their opponents to change their style for the reverse fixture, despite Roberto Martinez's side failing to create many goal-scoring opportunities against them in October.
A solid defensive performance from the Republic frustrated their hosts that night, which included Caoimhin Kelleher saving a second-half penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo before Neves headed home in the 91st minute.
"They probably will tweak a few things, given that they didn't create a lot of goal-scoring chances against us," Hallgrimsson continued,
"They had some shots from outside the box, some crosses, but I think we kind of controlled how they attacked us. We cannot defend all their threats - it's impossible - so we need to give them some areas and then we know what to expect."
Hallgrimsson's side are likely to need a positive result against Portugal if they are to have any chance of claiming second spot in Group F, which would see them participate in March's World Cup play-offs.
Currently third in the group, the Republic are one point behind Hungary in second. They travel to Yerevan to face Armenia ahead of the Republic of Ireland's match with Portugal.
Victory for Hungary in that game would likely mean that the Republic of Ireland must beat Portugal to have any real chance of claiming second spot ahead of the pair meeting in the final fixture in Budapest on Sunday.
"This is probably the one that has the most riding on it but like we've said before, we don't know how much is at stake until after the Armenian game against Hungary," Hallgrimsson said.
"Then we can answer that question again, just how much importance there is on this game. It might be irrelevant, but we predict we at least need a point from this game.
"But then, of course, it's a World Cup riding on it, if that's the case, yeah, definitely it is the most important."
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