Evening all and welcome to Switzerland v Ireland!

Mick McCarthy also said that he thinks the pitch will be a leveller, i.e. he knows Switzerland are better at football than his lot, but he isn't really expecting that kind of affair.

Tell you what's mad: the finals are using three grounds in Great Britain and Ireland and none of them are the Millennium Stadium. It's better than Wembley, the Aviva and Hampden, by far - and not just inside, but its location, near the train station and in town.

That font, I don't know.

I don't think I'm allowed to post it here but Brandon Williams has done something glorious for England under-20s.

The pitch looks ok, looking at VT of the players warming up.

There are going to be some terrible quality games at these Euros. Once upon a time even qualifying was an achievement - the first competition I remember, 1988, had to groups of four. The Eastern bloc had yet to break up so there were fewer countries, but even so; the point was for things to be good. Euro 2000 is one of the best tournaments of my career, though I guess, on the other hand, the more countries there the more they can improve and the more general joy.

OK, I take it back. Mick McCarthy just said he's playing 3-5-2, with Coleman and McClean as wing-backs. Connolly and Collins will play up front as a duo - McCarthy said it wouldn't be fair to leave him on his bill. He also said that he watched Switzerland against Denmark and the Swiss had loads of chances, so he wanted to match them up to begin with. when you do that against a better team you almost always lose.

I quite fancy Ireland's tight three in midfield to cause Switzerland's two, one of whom is Xhaka, some grief. I'm also looking forward to watching Aaron Connolly, who must be absolutely buzzing.

I sort of fancy Ireland tonight. Switzerland, though, are meisters at qualifying for tournaments and then doing pretty well once there. So I suppose that's me saying that I don't know.

Ireland, meanwhile field a 4-3-3, and well though they've done to eke out this lead at the top of Group D, it also reflects just how miserable the standard is - not just here, but all around Europe.

Even if one of them is Stephan Lichsteiner.

Switzerland are unchanged from Saturday's 1-0 defeat in Denmark. I thought they might shove another man into midfield, given a match that looks likely to be a fight, but not for now. Perhaps the pitch will be drier out wide - if so, having wingers and wide midfielders will be helpful.

Let's have some teams...

So we got here in the end; the ref has declared the pitch playable, though it's been nailed by rain. This might just suit Ireland, who don't really have the players to engage in a game of football and who will qualify for the finals with a win, which would more or less end Swiss hopes. If Switzerland win, Ireland have another hit at home to Denmark in a month's time - and if Switzerland win, Denmark will already be through.