Fabio Capello will stick to the habit of a lifetime and not tell his players the England team to face the United States tonight until two hours before kick-off.
Rather than fill them with dread and anxiety, not knowing whether they have a performance to prepare for or not, Capello insists his formula brings major benefits because it ensures every single member of his squad will be fully tuned in for the start of their World Cup campaign.
“I always decide to speak with the players at the last moment,” said Capello. “Sometimes the pressure is bigger but it means all the players are ready to play.
“They will be ready physically and mentally and they will be fully focused waiting to see who will play. That is why I only tell them two hours before kick-off.”
Only one man has been ruled out; Gareth Barry, who will start on the bench.
It means Robert Green, Joe Hart and David James can still dream of being first-choice keeper and Liverpool team-mates Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson can both think they will start at right-back.
Skipper Steven Gerrard will definitely play. But will it be alongside Frank Lampard in central midfield or wide on the left, where Joe Cole thought he was going to get a game.
Capello believes he has plausible options in Michael Carrick and James Milner, who the Italian has confirmed is fit to start.
“Milner has said he is okay. He is fit and available to play.”
One of the few players who has no need to concern himself about whether he has made it into Capello’s chosen XI is Wayne Rooney. If Gerrard does drop back alongside Lampard, even more of the attacking responsibility will fall on the Manchester United man’s shoulders.
But Capello is convinced he can carry it, just as he believes Rooney’s temperament will not be an issue, having already had a chat with the 24-year-old to tell him to cool it.
“Rooney played all the games in qualification and had no problems with the referee,” he said. “I spoke with him and I hope it will be the same in the World Cup. But Rooney is a fantastic player because he wants to win. His aggression is really strong.
“But we have to be careful. We have to respect the referees.”
Argentina coach Diego Maradona, meanwhile, has appealed to Fifa to extol the virtues of their Fair Play campaign during this summer’s World Cup as his side prepare to get their campaign under way against Nigeria this afternoon.
Maradona, who infamously scored with his hand against England during the 1986 World Cup quarter-final before going on to lift the trophy for Argentina, urged referees to “understand what fair play is” in a bid to get protection for players.
He said: “I think Fifa must definitely look for fair play. Those who don‘t want to play clean football should go up into the stands. People want to see football and we want people to watch football peacefully without violence.
“Let’s really look for fair play and referees should understand what fair play is. When fair play started in 1990, I got a kick against Cameroon that nearly took my head off and we had (Claudio) Caniggia getting a yellow card for something little.
“We’ve been through that but we want to see good football, we want to have fair play in matches, we want to enjoy this World Cup.”
Argentina, looking for their third World Cup title and first since Maradona led them to glory 24 years ago, begin their 2010 campaign against Nigeria in Johannesburg this afternoon.
It is a potentially tough start for Argentina, but Maradona insists he has total faith in his squad.
“It’s great what we have. We are proud, we’re happy, and I think we’ve had good preparation. These 23 players, these monsters, these fighters, give me great peace of mind when I see them, which I’ve never felt before,” he said.
Maradona refused to talk about his starting line-up for the Nigeria match but, with all of his players set to be fit the encounter, the 49-year-old admitted “there are not going to be any surprises in the team”.