Fabio Capello will arrive in South Africa on Monday to find his World Cup training base is still a building site.
The England manager is coming to attend a two-day workshop for all the World Cup coaches in Sun City but he will seize the chance to check the progress at the Bafokeng Sports Campus, 3,900ft above sea level, which he has selected as his team"s South African headquarters.
Only half the rooms in the hotel are finished, the medical centre is far from complete, the new pitches look questionable and plans for an Olympicsized swimming pool have been shelved.
We can"t train there Rio! Beckham and co will be based at the unfinished Bafokeng Sports Campus
Work on the clubhouse, which will include the players" changing rooms, has yet to start even though the England squad are expected here in the first week of June to prepare for their Group C opener against the USA in nearby Rustenburg.
On Sunday the complex was busy with workers and construction vehicles, with piles of bricks stacked up in the car park.
The England boss will stay at the Royal Marang Hotel inside the campus grounds where the squad will be in June.
Holiday home: The Bafokeng Sports Campus looks someway short of completion
It lacks the grandeur of the Schlosshotel Buhlerhohe, the Black Forest retreat chosen by Sven Goran Eriksson at the 2006 World Cup finals.
Capello, who last visited the camp after the World Cup draw in December, is understood to be happy with assurances that all the building work is on schedule at the Bafokeng and has been most anxious to check on the state of the pitches.
Two top-grade FIFA pitches were installed last year. They are supposed to be identical to those in the World Cup stadiums and their installation and development has been closely monitored by FA pitch experts.
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On Sunday, the pitches in question had been very heavily watered. They were a lush green colour, unlike some grass on the campus, but the top inch was sodden and the ground beneath was rock hard. No one will play on the pitches before England arrive in June.
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"They are really pushing hard," said Riaan Welman, a manager for the Royal Marang Hotel.
"Half the 72 rooms are finished and half are nearly finished. We can finish a room in half a day."
Top-level security measures are planned when the England team arrive, with a perimeter fence in place and many guards.
"There will be local firms and police," said Mr Welman. "A man has more chance of falling pregnant than getting in here."
On Sunday the welcome from staff and security was warm and friendly. They invited the English press on a tour of the hotel before the FA security chief asked reporters to leave.
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