Thirty days, 32 teams, 64 games and a worldwide television audience of five billion people . . . the world is at war, fighting it out for the greatest prize of them all: the FIFA World Cup.

On Friday night, members of Ireland's 100,000-strong Polish community gathered in Zagloba pub on Dublin's Parnell Street to witness their home country kick-off their 2006 World Cup campaign.

It was a sea of red and white.

As the game against Ecuador kicked-off, the bouncer on the door blessed himself. It was a gesture that might have worked if John Paul II was still alive, but the Polish Pope is gone, replaced by a German, and the Germans . . . also in Group A . . . were most definitely not cheering for Poland.

A sign on the wall read 'Poland: First To Fight' but at 8.24pm, disaster struck. Tenorio had the ball in the net for Ecuador and Zagloba pub let out a collective moan. Twenty minutes later, it was half time but the mood remained upbeat.

"We will win 3-1", proclaimed Piotr Zemlik from Poznan. He had to hope so . . .

earlier he had a rush of blood to the head and placed 1,000 on Poland to win. The odds weren't great and he stood to win just 300 profit. Was it worth the risk? "It's not a risk, " he says. "We will win".

Down the road, Spirit nightclub was also being taken over by the Polish community. The crowd of several hundred Poles roared encouragement. "Polskaclap-clap-clap; Polska-clapclap-clap". But then disaster struck again . . . Delgado this time, 2-0 Ecuador. The final whistle blew and it was over.

"It doesn't matter, " said Merek Goderski. "We will beat Germany on Wednesday and get through the group."

Failure to beat Germany will almost certainly put Ireland's 100,000 Poles in the same boat as the Irish . . . without a team in the greatest competition of them all.