WALES face playing their crucial World Cup qualifier against Poland this Saturday in a half empty Millennium Stadium.

It is a game they have to win if they are to stand any chance of qualifying for the 2002 World Cup in Japan.

But despite the presence of top-flight players like Ryan Giggs, Gary Speed and Simon Davies Welsh soccer fans are set to snub this must win encounter by staying at home. Up to this morning only 27,000 advanced tickets had been sold which is under a third of the full capacity of over 70,000.

And the Football Association in Wales isn't expecting the crowd to be over 35,000. That's 10,000 less than the attendance for Wales' last home game against the Ukraine. And this is despite the ticket prices remaining at just £10 for adults and £5 for children.

It is a damning indictment on the regard with which the Welsh public hold their international side, especially when it is considered that the First-Division play-off final between Preston North End and Bolton Wanderers, where the cheapest ticket was £18, was a sell-out and had been for weeks.

FAW officials also revealed that on a pro-rata basis more Polish expatriates living in Britain will attend the game than Welsh fans.

"What would be really useful would be if there were as many expatriate Polish supporters as there are Welsh people in Cardiff. Then we'd have no problem filling the stadium," joked an FAW insider.

And the FAW are believed to think that the reason the fans are staying away is because the Millennium Stadium has lost it's magic.

"The Stadium has lost its pull in some ways, and we are not expecting a big crowd for the match," said the source.

"People are no longer thinking of it as shiny and new, it has lost some of its attraction." The low attendance will be a bitter blow for a Welsh side that needs all the support it can get.

When Mark Hughes' side fell behind against the Ukraine, the low attendance meant the Welsh team were unable to get the lift they needed to transform the match.