If England's players did not recognise the man with the iron handshake who greeted them on arrival here, the suits among the FA delegation certainly did. It was Jack Warner, Fifa vice-president, self-styled kingmaker in the forthcoming battle to host the World Cup 2018 finals and a man who last year described England as “an irritant” that “has never made any impact on world football” and claimed that the FA was disliked throughout the sport's global community.

To quote one source, the FA has “shaken hands with the devil” in agreeing to play Trinidad & Tobago in a match to mark the centenary of the two islands' football federation.

It is a stance that has nothing to do with the islands themselves, but everything to do with Warner, who the FA believe can help with the canvassing of votes for hosting the 2018 World Cup. As president of Concacaf (the North and Central American and Caribbean football federation), a vice-president of Fifa and a member of Fifa's executive committee, Warner is seen by the FA's bid team as an essential target in their charm offensive before the 2011 vote, but the FA maintains that it has neither sought nor received any guarantees from him as a condition of playing this fixture, even though, as The Times revealed last week, it will make a loss from the game.

The hope, as one source put it, is that he will “remember” the FA's cooperation, but any prospect of a pro-England block vote from the federation's 40 members has disappeared with the news that the United States plans a rival bid of its own.

Writing in tomorrow's match programme, Warner described England's visit as a “momentous event”, but the centenary celebrations have been overshadowed by a continuing dispute between him and many of the nation's players. Even on Thursday night, Warner pleaded with Dwight Yorke, now retired from international football, to feature as a “guest player”, but so far the Sunderland player has rejecting his advances, partly because no appearance fee could be agreed but partly because of his dissatisfaction with the treatment of the players who became national heroes after appearing in the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.

Yorke will be at the centre of a pre-match presentation on the pitch, but the islands' two other most celebrated former players, Shaka Hislop and Russell Latapy, will not be present because of the continuing tension between the association and its players over a legal dispute relating to bonuses that were not paid after the World Cup.