An international manager can be forgiven for regarding the Confederations Cup as a mixed blessing.
It is in many respects the closest equivalent that exists of a World Cup, a dress rehearsal which, in its modern format, simulates the conditions of the major event. But it is not much of a guide to form.
No winner of the event, in the two decades in which it has invited each continental champion and the World Cup holder to take part, has gone on to win the World Cup the following year.
But several of the candidates for the gold medal in the Russian staging of the event which begins tomorrow, will feel that is a tradition ready for alteration.
Their strategies for the tournament, however, differ markedly.
Germany have arrived in Sochi, one of the four venues for the eight-team tournament, with a squad picked mindful of the importance of what happens in 12 months time.
Germany’s manager Joachim Low has deemed it better for most of his senior players to rest this June after long seasons, the better to pace themselves over the next year.
The Germans, world champions, will take on the tournament with a strikingly young squad, shorn of the likes of Manuel Neuer, Mats Hummels, Thomas Muller and Mesut Ozil.
“A prospect squad,” Low calls it, and one which, although relatively inexperienced, still includes the likes of Leroy Sane and Julian Draxler, two reasons to expect that Germany will excite, and should finish in the top two places of a group including Chile, Cameroon and Australia.
That is an Australia still galvanised by Tim Cahill, who at 37, can look at half the Germans he will line up against on Monday and note that some were not even born when he embarked on his storied career.
Another Peter Pan of the game, Mexico’s captain Rafa Marquez, 38, will lead his country in a competition which will always hold a special place in his decorated career.
Mexico won the Confederations Cup back in 1999, and acted as a springboard for Marquez to move to Monaco and then onto Barcelona.
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Three Defining Confederations Cup Moments
1999, Final – Mexico 4 Brazil 3 Mexico had become fed up with the sight of Brazil in the summer of 1999. The Brazilians had defeated the Mexicans twice in the Copa America, staged immediately before the Confederations Cup. Revenge was sweet. In front of a home crowd of 110,000 and up against a young Ronaldinho, the Mexicans went 2-0 up, and they were pegged back to 2-2 before winning the see-saw thriller.
2003, Final – France 1 Cameroon 0 The occasion, marked by tragedy, will be remembered far longer than the outcome. Cameroon's commanding midfield player, Marc-Vivien Foe had died, having collapsed on the field with cardiac problems, in the semi-final three days earlier. His teammates all wore jerseys remembering him. The two captains lifted the trophy in unison, Thierry Henry's extra-time goal all but irrelevant.
2009, First Round – Brazil 4 Egypt 3 Three goals in the first 11 minutes, and a wake-up call for Brazil. After Mohammed Zidan had equalised Kaka's opener, Luis Fabiano and Juan put Brazil 3-1 ahead. But within two minutes, Mohammed Shawky and Zidan suddenly set up a cliffhanger, controversially settled with a stoppage-time penalty awarded via a linesman's intervention. Egypt went on to beat Italy, Brazil to lift the Cup.
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Stars are discovered at this event. On the back of a man-of-the-tournament display back in 1997, the Brazilian trickster Denilson became briefly the most expensive player in the world.
Other revelations of the Confederations have had more enduring influence on the game: Ronaldinho, for instance, and Neymar, star of Brazil’s victory four years ago.
For the first time, a Confederations Cup will have one of the pair of the sport’s dominant superstars involved.
Lionel Messi has never been at the event.
Cristiano Ronaldo comes for the first time, to captain Portugal, the European champions. It hardly needs stressing that if Ronaldo is there, Portugal will be driven.
They may be even better equipped to conquer than they were last summer at Euro 2016, where they progressed to the later stages via a series of dogged draws and lost Ronaldo to injury early in the final.
Unlike last summer, they have a fit Bernardo Silva, newly acquired by Manchester City, to support Ronaldo.
“I see us a title contenders,” manager Fernando Santos said. “Just as I always did in France, even if we weren’t among the favourites. But it will be a tough competition.”
How tough, in the early stages, remains to be seen.
The Confederations Cup has tended to produce some unbalanced scorelines, and its minnows, New Zealand, will be anxious to avoid the sort of walloping that Tahiti, Oceania’s representatives in 2013, suffered.
The Tahitians were beaten 10-0 by Spain, 8-0 by Uruguay, and 6-1 by Nigeria.
It is a big test for Russia, too, both as a host nation ahead of 2018, and for their capacity as a team to enthuse their supporters.
They appear to have the kinder group, facing the New Zealanders, the Portuguese, and Mexico, and avoiding Germany, a Cameroon making a long-awaited return to the event, and the Chile of Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal.
Anything less than a semi-final will be deemed a flop, unwelcome to Russia’s governors and its public.
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