Sepp Blatter's Comedy Roadshow - previously better known as FIFA - has won over the critics this week. Thereby neatly deflecting attention away from the climax to this year's football calendar that is Saturday's England v Switzerland sign-off at Wembley.
Actually, considering the dazzling flair and talent on display during last weekend's Champions League Final, climax is surely too strong a word. But even if England's Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland has a touch of the "after the Lord Mayor's show" about it, this still constitutes an important game for Fabio Capello.
After all, with victory, England will head into next season top of Group G, and safe passage to the finals will seem a palpable certainty. And the Three Lions are an understandably short 1.384/11 to back to follow up their comfortable 3-1 win in Basle against the Swiss last September.
Still, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Wayne Rooney is suspended, while Jermain Defoe (wrist) and playmaker Michael Carrick (hip) have been ruled out by injury. In their stead, in-form Darren Bent and his Villa wingman, Ashley Young, look the most likely to profit in the First Goalscorer markets, especially when you consider the lingering fitness issues of Bobby Zamora and Peter Crouch.
Striking options aside, though, the omens look favourable for an otherwise full-strength squad which has enjoyed a week off to rest from the club campaign. As any self-respecting schoolboy knows, it's crucial to pass that final exam if you want to keep your parents off your back during the summer holidays. When it comes to England's star pupils, it's all about chalking up the W, and then hopping on a flight to the Med before our press pack can say super-injunction.
So if England are fresh ready to fire, what about the Swiss? Well, this is perhaps the one weekend where Capello does not find himself the most under-fire coach. Instead, the black-sheep tag passes to his opposite number, Ottmar Hitzfeld, who has been caught in something of a wide-awake nightmare ever since Switzerland stunned subsequent champions Spain 1-0 at the beginning of the last World Cup.
As false dawns go, that takes some beating. Not only did the Swiss swiftly implode in South Africa (bombing out at the first phase with two abject performances in their next two games) but they've also reset the bar for under-achievement this season, garnering a mere four points from as many games in a weak group which should've offered them some hope of qualification. Hitzfeld can dare to dream, of course. However, should his side lose again this weekend, it's highly doubtful he'll even be around to try and make those dreams a reality.
But it's not all the manager's fault. It seldom is. Stalwart strikers, Marco Streller and Alexander Frei, have recently retired in the wake of constant criticism at their combined profligacy in front of goal. You might think that would be a good thing, but that would be reckoning without their replacements who have neither the experience nor the offensive skills with which to trouble decent defences. In short, the Swiss have all the firepower of, erm, what's that famous national army with no firepower?
Like Capello, Hitzfeld arrived as national coach to a clamour of expectation, premised upon a dazzling club CV which spoke of 18 major titles. Like Capello, he now looks a big price to add to them. So when the final whistle sounds at Wembley, and if their ensuing managerial handshake spells an end to Hitzfeld's tenure, perhaps our Italian should spare a thought for their German. After all, it's difficult to take on tanks with Swiss Army penknives. But at least that corkscrew will come in handy, should Fabio want to open a bottle of red in commiseration.
Five things you might not know about Ottmar Hitzfeld:
1.Born April 1949 in Lorrach, West Germany, his footballing ability soon caught the attention of lower league sides but he was committed to finishing his studies where he qualified as a Maths teacher.
2.Maintained his amateur status so he could compete in the Munich Olympics of 1972.
3.Soon after he joined FC Basle as a striker and led them to the Swiss Championship in '72 and '73.
4.Twice he was elected "World Coach of the Year". He is one of only three managers to win the European Cup/Champions League with two different clubs.
5. Cordially invited by a group of FC Luzern fans to attend matches alongside their fellow supporters, so enraged were they by Hitzfeld's failure to select David Zibung for the ailing national team. He's yet to take them up on the offer.