It was confirmed yesterday by the Portuguese Football Federation that Ireland will play Portugal in the Stadium of Light on October 7.

It comes as no surprise since the Stadium of Light holds a whopping 120,000 spectators and with the success of the Portuguese national team in Euro 2000 it should surely be full.

Ireland's record in Benfica's stadium is a bit nightmarish. We have played there three times and as yet have to get a positive result. We have only scored one goal there and that was back in 1946. In that time Portugal have scored eight.

Ireland's job could not be much harder if they want to qualify for the World Cup. They face Holland in Amsterdam in September and follow that up with a trip to Lisbon the following month.

The kick-off time for the Portugal game has yet to be confirmed. Ireland's ticket allocation will not be known for some time yet.