Steve McClaren is preparing to take the biggest gamble of his managerial career by plunging international rookie Scott Carson into the hot-house of England's make-or-break Euro 2008 qualifier with Croatia at Wembley, while dropping David Beckham.
Despite refusing to either outline his team, or detail his selection policy for the encounter, from a game in which England need a point to reach next summer's finals, it has emerged McClaren has told Carson he is in and Beckham he is out.
The decision to omit Beckham is big news, even though it has been obvious over the past week his fitness levels, after a lengthy injury-enforced absence followed by a series of exhibition matches for LA Galaxy, are not at the levels required for a 90-minute examination at the highest level.
However, Carson's presence in the starting line-up is much more eye-catching.
Considering the 22-year-old only made his debut on Friday - and barely had a shot to save - during the friendly triumph over Austria in Vienna, it a courageous move by McClaren and one which had not really been expected.
Most pundits believed if McClaren was going to ditch error-prone first-choice Paul Robinson, he would have done so by now.
Yet the little Carson had to do on Friday must have been enough to convince McClaren as the coach claimed his decision over team selection was reached on Saturday morning, long before Robinson's reported sub-standard performance in training yesterday.
So, at lunchtime, McClaren pulled Carson to one side and told the Cumbrian, who kept a clean sheet on his Premier League debut for Leeds at Manchester United as a raw teenager, emerged victorious in a Champions League quarter-final against Juventus on one of his rare starts for Liverpool and spent last season unsuccessfully battling against the drop with Charlton, to prepare for the biggest game of his life.
"There is risk in everything," said McClaren.
"It does not matter what age you are. You can be a big-game player at 18 or 33.
"My mind was made up about the goalkeeping situation long before the squad came back together again on Sunday.
"Experience can be invaluable but so can the innocence of youth. The fact is we need big-game players tomorrow night."
Given his background, Carson's 'big-game' capabilities have to be taken on trust.
However, the confidence he has exuded in training belies his now infamous throwaway line a month ago when he said Ray Clemence had more chance of getting a game than he did.
As goalkeeping coach, Clemence has presumably been hugely influential in the decision which has gone Carson's way, against the judgement of most seasoned football men, including Arsene Wenger who confirmed he would have stuck with Robinson had he been in McClaren's shoes.
Aside from Carson, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Gareth Barry are set to be handed starts as well at the expense of Beckham and Owen Hargreaves.
With Peter Crouch set to occupy a lone striker's role, Beckham's accurate delivery from the right flank would appear to be an obvious weapon.
Yet McClaren feels it is right to keep faith with Wright-Phillips and Barry, who were both major influences on an autumn campaign which was going superbly until a mad five minutes in Russia last month placed a huge question mark over England's participation at Euro 2008.
"The reason we have done so well in the second half of the campaign is that we have played as a team," said McClaren.
"It is not about individuals, it is about a team ethic. That is what we have in this squad and that is what we have to keep.
"The last three games Shaun Wright-Phillips has played at Wembley have been very good.
"He has scored a couple of goals and created chances. We have spoken about having pace on both flanks and Shaun has given us that."
McClaren will invite John Terry, who trained yesterday but will not be considered for selection, into the dressing room prior to offer his own words of encouragement as England reach their point of no return.
So often the subject of ridicule during his rollercoaster 17-game reign, there have been times even McClaren cannot have expected to reach this point.
In Croatia, against Andorra and only last month in Russia, he appeared to be teetering on the brink of dismissal.
Yet somehow, both McClaren and his team have survived. Now he can feel a groundswell of goodwill building as he strives for the minimum target of qualification.
"Any international manager, especially the England manager, expects to get stick. It is part of the job," he said.
"But, as I have travelled up and down the country, the public have wished me well and people within the game have also been very supportive and that is the most important thing for me.
"The opinions I respect are the ones from people who have been there and done it. Those who know me. Those who have crossed the white line and know what it is like. Those who know what it takes to manage teams at this level."
