Five-time champions Brazil take on Fabio Capello's resurgent England in Qatar, with European champions Spain hosting Diego Maradona's Argentina and defending world champions Italy facing the Netherlands.
With only three friendly dates set aside for fine-tuning between now and the start of the tournament in June 2010, Brazilian star Kaka admits that the weekend's games are ripe opportunities for psychological point-scoring.
"The World Cup is a competition in which everything needs to work to your advantage," he told The Guardian newspaper.
"Players need to be fit, decisions have to go in your favour and details such as a red card can cost a team dearly.
"As much as the Doha game (against England) will award no points, it can work as a massive confidence boost when you beat an opponent also tipped to prevail next year."
The lack of opportunities for experimentation means that unproven players are running out of time to force their way into the World Cup picture.
Marcello Lippi, who returned to the Italy hotseat in 2008 after guiding them to World Cup glory in Germany two years earlier, has more talent than most at his disposal but says the net is closing on the chosen few.
"We have been working with a group of 30 to 35 players and from that list 23 will go to South Africa," said Lippi, whose side take on the Netherlands in Italy's Abruzzo region, where 297 people were killed by an earthquake in April.
"It will be difficult for anyone to enter the group after the last friendly but it's not impossible.
"We only have three further games left and two of them we will play in the coming week, then we will return to train in March.
"The opportunities to finalise the team are not many as you can see."
Early-season form can, however, propel a player into contention and Spanish winger Jesus Navas is one man hoping to catch the eye against Argentina.
The 23-year-old Sevilla wide man has long been linked with a role in the national set-up but has previously resisted inclusion due to severe homesickness.
Last week he told national boss Vicente Del Bosque he was ready to make the step up and he intends to grab the opportunity with both hands.
"I'm going to enjoy myself," he told Spanish newspaper Marca.
"I have talked to (Sevilla team-mate Alvaro) Negredo and he has told me that it is a great squad. Now I am taking things step by step."
Maradona will be in the spotlight at Atletico Madrid's Vicente Calderon stadium, as the game against Spain comes a day before a FIFA disciplinary hearing into his explicit tirade at reporters in the aftermath of Argentina's 1-0 win over Uruguay in October.
Another coach grabbing the headlines is Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira, who has returned to take charge of hosts South Africa after taking time out to care for his ill wife.
The Bafana Bafana host Japan in World Cup host city Port Elizabeth on Saturday looking to improve on a dreadful run that has seen them win just eight of their last nine matches.
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