Republic of Ireland striker Robbie Keane has insisted that his side must pick up three points in their opening Euro 2012 Group C match against Croatia.
The Irish take on Slaven Bilic's team in Poznan on Sunday.
With tough tests against Italy and holders Spain to come, the Los Angeles Galaxy forward believes that a win is vital to his team's hopes of progressing.
"[Winning against Croatia] is vitally important," he told reporters. "Of course in any competition, you want to start off straight away as well as you can and try to get points on the board because we know that in the group, anybody can beat anybody.
"We just have to take each game as it comes, as we always say. We will focus on Sunday's game and see what happens after that.
"Hopefully we will be talking after that game with three points in the bag."
Ireland are looking to get of the group stage of a European Championship tournament for the first time in their history.
Jack Prescott
