England's friendly against Hungary on Wednesday could provide a glimpse into the future for Fabio Capello, or it could just be a reality check about the paucity of emerging talent available as he rebuilds the team ahead of European Championship qualifying.
One thing seems certain - and Capello is almost encouraging it: The players will be jeered at Wembley Stadium as fans get their first chance to vent their anger after a humiliating World Cup exit.
Capello said he plans to start against Hungary with the 10 players that have been retained from the 23-man World Cup squad, with Bobby Zamora also set to be handed his England debut alongside striker Wayne Rooney.
"I expect boos. Why not? We win together, we lose together," Capello said. "Always, I respect the crowd but I am the boss. They have to boo me like the players."
In the second half, though, Capello wants to introduce players such as 18-year-old Jack Wilshere and 20-year-old Arsenal teammate Kieran Gibbs, who he hopes will steer England to the Euro 2012 title despite having never played at such a high international level before.
While Joe Hart, who went to South Africa but didn't play, will be making his first international start, the Manchester City goalkeeper's starting place will be under pressure from Ben Foster, who is set to appear in the second half.
There are only two goalkeepers in the squad after Paul Robinson quit international football despite being recalled.
"We will make six substitutions and I will try to do something different," Capello said. "I want to see the young players. We will play Wilshere, who I want to see, and Gibbs 100 percent ... they'll play the second half because the first half won't be easy."
England's Euro 2012 qualifying campaign begins in September with matches against Bulgaria and Switzerland.
Hungary's return to Wembley will evoke memories of the so-called "match of the century" in 1953 when its 6-3 victory condemned England to its first home loss by a non-British side.
Hungary, which hasn't qualified for a major tournament since the 1986 World Cup, will be led for the first time by coach Sandor Egervari, who is preparing for Euro 2012 qualifiers against Sweden and Moldova next month.
Egervari took Hungary to the bronze medal at the 2009 Under-20 World Cup in Egypt and also won three Hungarian league titles as coach, in 1999 and 2003 with MTK and in 2000 with Dunaferr.
Egervari has called up only two players to the national team from the youth squad - Vladimir Koman and Akos Elek - saying he preferred not to handicap the under-21 team, which plays a crucial European Championship qualifier Wednesday against Bosnia.
Egervari and Sandor Csanyi, the millionaire banker who took over the presidency of Hungary's football federation in July, have both tried to lower expectations about the team's performance in the coming years, saying that they expect the squad to have better chance of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup than Euro 2012.
