It's a strange pairing by the FA. England now has a defensive-minded coach in the pragmatic Fabio Capello but a fervently at tacking FA chairman in Lord Triesman.
If they're as successful as Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in Hollywood's The Odd Couple, the film of England's successes could run and run.
Don't expect an expansive England performance in France on Wednesday. Capello admits his first tactical thoughts are always defensive. He was castigated at Real Madrid when he insisted results were more important than free-style, galactico football. "Those days are gone," he said. Soon he was too.
He'll always put the interests of the team ahead of the individual. The decision to include David Beckham in this squad won't have been influenced by romanticism.
The matter of a 100th cap was irrelevant. Capello knows Beckham remains England's most productive right-sided player - when fit. He's now judged him strong enough for inclusion in a real international test.
The former captain wasn't ready for the game against Switzerland and Capello would have learned nothing about his 2008 capabilities at the highest level from the end-of-season carnival matches against the USA and Trinidad. This is a timely and sensible decision, as is the rotation of the captain's armband. It's a reminder that the coach is the dominant dressing-room presence.
He will suffer neither fool nor ego. No one is safe. Beckham knows it from their Madrid days. Cassano, Davids, Del Piero and Totti have all withered under Capello's icy stare.
He wants his captain to lead on and off the field. Anyone who transgresses his moral code won't get a sniff of the armband.
Gareth Barry and Owen Hargreaves may emerge as genuine contenders, especially as Capello loves a holding midfielder. People forget his breathtaking AC Milan 1994 Champions League winners were built on Marcel Desailly's defensive midfield role. That's not to say Capello spurns creativity. Totti and Gullit thrived under him in the playmaking role and it'll be fascinating to see who he ultimately favours in the position just off a lone front-man.
If he can find a pivotal main striker with sufficient strength and pace for that job, the deeper-lying slot could be ideal for Wayne Rooney.
Capello may be cautious, but he remains a born winner with an unstinting love for the game. That's why he'll strike up a good relationship with Lord Triesman (below).
The FA's first independent chairman has always had a joyous affection for the game and crucially retains, at the age of 64, the fiery spirit that saw him suspended from Essex University after ring-leading a student protest.
His early days in Soho Square are rich in promise. He's not scared to take on the money-grabbers. The stance against "Game 39" shows he'll protect the fans. But there's still a genuine willingness to work sensibly with the Premier League and not in corrosive opposition.
He's only too aware that self-seeking clubs may try to stab him in the back, but no man who's risked his life sitting at volatile peace negotiation tables in Darfur is likely to be frightened of Premier League hot-air merchants.
He and Capello both have a steely quality and an impassioned desire to succeed for English football.
An odd couple they may be. But so were Joe Mears and Alf Ramsey. One played a key figure as FA chairman preparing the World Cup of 1966, and the other won it.
These are early days, very early, but this could be a winning combination again.
'Capello will suffer neither fool nor ego'
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Jonathan Pearce
ALEC STEWART
THE MOLE