The harmony Peter Crouch brought to England's win over Egypt struck just the right World Cup note for Fabio Capello.
After watching an off-beat performance from his team in the first half of their friendly with African Nations Cup winners Egypt, Capello went for a different tune at the break.
Replacing Jermain Defoe with Crouch made the music so much sweeter as the Tottenham forward scored twice, either side of a Shaun Wright-Phillips effort to give the Three Lions a 3-1 win in their final match before Capello announces the provisional squad he will take to Austria for altitude training prior to announcing which 23 players will accompany him to South Africa on June 1.
"I learned a lot of things," confirmed Capello of his decision to partner Defoe with Wayne Rooney for the first time since September 2008.
"They can play together but there were some things that didn't go the way I wanted.
"With Crouch we played differently. The movement of the players was much more harmonic."
It is Capello's way to leave a number of his answers open.
Mostly this is his pragmatic approach to management. He could have any number of ideas in his head right now but knowing how much club football remains, it would be folly to reveal them.
Confidence is another, not so much his, but that of the players on the receiving end if he were to say 'no' too often.
Most observers would have concluded Defoe and Rooney as a starting partnership does not work. Indeed, it was a theory Capello himself hinted at earlier in the week when he declared his preference for a big man and small man combination up front.
But the Italian is plotting and scheming, preparing for the day when he puts his plans into practice for real.
"The Egypt defenders are not so tall but they are always quick and I wanted to see Defoe and Rooney together. I have a lot of different solutions. Sometimes we can play Crouch, sometimes Defoe, sometimes Emile Heskey."
No matter how many options he tries, Capello probably reaches the same conclusion. His team performs better when Emile Heskey is in it.
Yet there is another thing too. Crouch knows how to score goals.
In his 57-cap career, Heskey has found the net on seven occasions. A far more prolific scorer, Defoe's figures are 11 goals in 39 appearances.
Crouch can trump them both. His brace took him to 20 in 37 games for this country, more than Dixie Dean and enough to put him joint 18th in the all-time list.
There was a time, no so very long ago, when it seemed Capello was searching for a reason to keep him away from South Africa.
Crouch has gamely plugged away, even though he faces a renewed threat to his Tottenham place from resurgent Roman Pavlyuchenko. Rarely injured, he deserves his place, and has impressed Capello with the wider aspects of his game.
"Peter Crouch has improved a lot," he said.
"When I started it was always the long ball onto Crouch's head. Now he plays football.
"Tottenham don't only play long ball, so he always tries to pass the ball.
"Last night it was one touch, maximum two. It is very important because it is not easy to win the ball off Crouch."
Having catapulted him straight back into his starting line-up on the basis of one decent performance for Arsenal, Capello will be aware Theo Walcott still has a lot of improving to do if he is to become the player that destroyed Croatia in Zagreb 18 months ago.
Leighton Baines did no better than OK, which means Capello will try to heal Wayne Bridge's gaping mental wounds whilst hoping Ashley Cole recovers from his broken ankle.
Wright-Phillips impressed in his second half cameo, as did Michael Carrick, who brought greater vision than Frank Lampard.
Possibly the most pleasing aspect for Capello was the crowd reaction to John Terry, which started as mixed and ended being very supportive.
All this is now filed away. Capello is now condemned to sit back and wait, week after week, as the Premier League title, the top four spot, survival, Champions League, Europa League and FA Cups reach their conclusion.
So many big games, all bringing danger to the men he will be relying on when Capello puts his own mighty reputation on the line this summer.
"The pressure is more than I have ever known before," he admitted.
"You are playing for a whole country. Not only one club.
"There is a lot of pressure. You realise it is so very important."
