World Cup flops England are out to put their disappointment and David Beckham behind them when Steve McClaren ushers in a new era against European champions Greece on Wednesday in his first match in charge.
England never played to their potential during their run to the World Cup quarter-finals in Germany during June and July, when the squad hailed as the "golden generation" limped out on penalties against Portugal.
Then-assistant McClaren saw it all from manager Sven-Goran Eriksson's side and reckons he has the remedy to get the best out of England's charges.
He has already made his mark on the squad by axing the talismanic Beckham, the global superstar having resigned the captaincy following the World Cup.
Strikers Jermain Defoe and Darren Bent, controversially ignored for the England World Cup squad by Eriksson who gambled on the untested teenager Theo Walcott but never gave him any playing time, are back in the frame.
And former England manager Terry Venables is back, the 63-year-old becoming McClaren's deputy and hoping to go one better than the European Championships semi-final he reached in 1996.
Just 14 of Eriksson's chosen 23 remain for the Greece match, an early tune-up in preparation for the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.
Bayern Munich's Owen Hargreaves, one of the few England players to emerge from the World Cup with his reputation enhanced, said McClaren had quietly brought about his new dawn.
Eriksson used the midfielder as a perennial substitute, a bit-part player to be thrown on when the going got tough or to paste over the cracks in a variety of positions.
But the battle-hardened Champions League winner proved that he, more than his colleagues, had what it takes at the highest level with an astonishing display of resilience and ability as 10-man England's ship sunk around him against Portugal.
Now the 25-year-old feels the moment is right for him to be an England mainstay under McClaren's new order.
"Things have changed with the new manager," Hargreaves said.
"I think whenever someone is an assistant manager, they develop a special relationship towards the players, more so than possibly a manager would. That was the case with McClaren.
"I think it's great now that he is the manager because he knows our strengths and weaknesses and that bodes well for the team.
"The fans look at the potential in the squad and the amount of talent, everyone expects the highest of achievement and we expect the same.
"The sky's the limit. We've got great individuals, now we just need to make the best team possible."
Hargreaves is not one to dwell on the World Cup excitement that gripped the nation and ultimately left it feeling flat.
"When you look at that team sheet, in my opinion it was second to none at the World Cup," he said.
"The World Cup is gone. This is a new chapter and we need to be positive and optimistic.
"Things will be different from how they have been in the past.
"Now it's a new era, a new team and a new qualifying campaign."
Chelsea defender John Terry is McClaren's choice as captain in Beckham's absence, on the Real Madrid winger's old stomping ground, with Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard as his deputy.
Beckham had the tendency to drift inwards from the wings and McClaren wants his side to play with more pace and attacking threat from the flanks.
He is likely to stick with Eriksson's tried-and-trusted defensive foursome of Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Terry and Gary Neville.
However, World Cup fringe player Stuart Downing, McClaren's left winger at his old club Middlesbrough, could feature more prominently and Tottenham forward Defoe could get the chance to stake his claim in the absence of knee injury victim Michael Owen.
West Ham striker Dean Ashton, 22, has been called into the squad for the first time and fancies his chances of establishing himself in the team.
He said he had been listening closely to 40-year-old Hammers team-mate Teddy Sheringham, an England veteran from the Venables era.
"I've got belief in my own ability. I believe I am good enough to play at this level," said the confident and newly-slimline Ashton.
"I think I'm a different type of striker to most who are in the squad. I'd like to think I've got different qualities."
He talked up his "old-fashioned" centre-forward credentials, namely his bustling style - as opposed to the sheer pace of Defoe.
The game is not expected to be a sell-out, with England fans' reserve of enthusiasm seemingly run dry by the disappointing World Cup experience.
But McClaren will be hoping England's performance against Greece will get them coming back in greater numbers, with belief renewed in the national side.