Russell Martin has argued a strong case for the Scotland defence, regardless of which players are handed the task of stopping Robbie Keane and Co.
National coach Gordon Strachan has options for his central pairing at the back, despite the Scots still being without the services of the injured Grant Hanley.
Hanley had been a key part of the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign until he suffered a calf injury playing for club Blackburn Rovers in February and subsequently missed the remainder of the season.
That has left Strachan with a gap to fill for tomorrow night’s crunch clash against the Republic of Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Russell, fresh from helping Norwich City win the English Premier League promotion play-off final at Wembley, is odds-on to take one of the places at the heart of the rearguard.
That leaves a battle between Celtic’s Charlie Mulgrew, Gordon Greer of Brighton and Ipswich Town’s Christophe Berra for the other.
Mulgrew and Greer played the full 90 minutes of last Friday’s friendly against Qatar, while Berra showed he can be valuable in attack as well as well as in defence by grabbing the winner in the March friendly against Northern Ireland.
Mulgrew, who was man-of-the-match in midfield when Scotland beat the Republic at Celtic Park in November, appears to be the favourite to partner Martin.
The Canaries players is confident that, whoever gets the nod from Strachan, they will be able to keep Keane and the other Irish dangermen at bay.
Martin, who will be winning his 19th cap for his country, said: “We’ve got a few options in the centre of defence.
“Charlie has played there before, Gordon played well against Qatar, Christophe is there and I am obviously hoping to play.
“If Charlie gets the nod in there then I am sure he will do the job.
“He has played there lots of times for Celtic.
“I think one of his strengths is his versatility and he is comfortable on the ball wherever he plays.
“Charlie is a big lad and a good athlete so he can slot in anywhere and he also played really well against Qatar.
“We played briefly together in the friendly against England at Celtic Park where we were up against Wayne Rooney so it doesn’t get much tougher than that.
“I have played lots of times with him in training so if we were asked to play again it won’t be a problem.
“When you come away with Scotland you are playing with good players so it’s fairly easy to adapt.
“Our defensive record has been pretty good.
“Whoever I have played with – Christophe or Gordon – it has always gone pretty well.
“The way the manager wants to set us up is very clear so regardless of who comes in they know what’s expected of them.
“It’s been quite a rise for me under Gordon Strachan.
“I’ve played in most games and I’m just hoping to do so on Saturday.
“He never gives too much away about team selection until the day of the game but I’m hoping to be involved.”