Postcard from Amsterdam: Cruyff, cruise and indoor booze

It's been raining all morning in Amsterdam, which means the thousands of Ireland fans who have travelled are set to seek indoor pursuits to pass the time on matchday in this great European city.

Those planned canal cruises may get bumped for some of the many other attractions that are available in this excellent Dutch destination.

The Van Gogh Museum, perhaps, for those fans who appreciate the beauty that Stephen Kenny is trying to bring to the national team or some of the city's many sites of historical significance, for those who would prefer to consign his tenure to the past.

But one they might all enjoy ahead of an away day against one of the European superpowers is to pay homage to a local hero and take a stadium tour before the madness kicks in for the late 8:45pm kick-off.

Built in the mid-90s and originally known as the Amsterdam Arena, the stadium was renamed in 2018 to honour the Ajax, Netherlands and global footballing icon Johann Cruyff who died in 2016.

The Johan Cruyff Arena now has an increased capacity of 55,000, yet when you walk around the interior if feels smaller than the Aviva Stadium, which means that there really isn’t a bad seat in the house.

The retractable roof will be closed tonight, which should really increase the decibel levels for a home crowd that are renowned to be noisy, aided, no doubt, by the well-oiled Irish contingent who will be happy to get into the party mood.

It is not too often that Ireland get to play an international game "indoors", however, the last time that they did play with the roof closed, they did quite well, as Robbie Brady might tell you about the night his headed goal saw off the Italians and sent the team into the knock-out stages of Euro 2016.

Stephen Kenny himself took