Heavyweights England and Uruguay must resurrect their World Cup hopes or face the prospect of an early flight home when they collide in a crunch Group D fixture tomorrow.
Opening defeats to Italy and Costa Rica respectively have left both countries in danger of elimination with little room for error in their last two pool games.
Defeat in Sao Paulo would surely spell doom for either Roy Hodgson's new-look England or two-time winners Uruguay, who were unimpressive in their 3-1 loss to Costa Rica.
Both countries have question marks over their strikers with calls in British media to either drop talisman Wayne Rooney, or move him from the left to his preferred central role.
For Uruguay, Liverpool's Luis Suarez, this season's Premier League top-scorer with 31 goals, is set to make his return from keyhole surgery on his the meniscus in his left knee last month.
Rooney set up England's goal but missed a chance to equalise during Saturday's 2-1 loss to Italy, in a subdued display which had many critics questioning his place.
The Manchester United forward, 28, is still to score at a World Cup and when he was spotted training with the reserves on Monday, speculation rose that he had been axed.
But the English FA said Rooney had requested an extra training session while other first-team regulars continued their post-match recovery.
Rooney complained "sometimes (I) wonder what the press are getting at" on his Facebook page, while Frank Lampard hit out at the obsession with his team-mate.
"A fixation with one player can become, rather than a debate, a bit of an agenda," he said. "So I do think we need to drop the agenda and look at the team, whoever plays."
The whirlwind surrounding Rooney has dominated the build-up for youthful England, who won praise for their bold approach against Italy, exemplified by Raheem Sterling.
