A fit Brown, a favourite son in Herbert's planning, would run out on to the Royal Bakofeng Stadium, with Jeremy Christie making way for the team's vice-captain.
Brown arrives in Johannesburg today, having been cleared by a specialist after three screws were inserted two weeks ago to repair his fractured shoulder.
Herbert still wants to check Brown's fitness, and the odds are probably against him making the first World Cup game.
Herbert was not even able to guarantee Brown would be part of the World Cup squad, when questioned after yesterday's 2-0 loss to Chile.
Then again, the odds were completely stacked against him getting to South Africa after he damaged the right shoulder against Australia in Melbourne on May 24.
"He's done remarkably well to get himself on the plane," Herbert said.
"We can assess it through training - whether it's first-up or not first-up. We're all delighted. "At this stage I'd say he's 90% [to return to the squad] but don't shoot me if he's not."
Against Brown is that he has to adjust to the higher altitude and cope with jet-lag.
But he offers more than Christie, and has a ready-made combination with Simon Elliott.
Presuming that Brown is in the squad, but that the second game against Italy becomes a more realistic target for his return, a likely initially starting line-up is: Mark Paston, Winston Reid, Ryan Nelsen, Tommy Smith, Leo Bertos, Elliott, Christie, Tony Lochhead, Shane Smeltz, Rory Fallon and Chris Killen.
This would mean regular defenders Ben Sigmund and Ivan Vicelich miss the cut.
Vicelich is apparently also a defensive midfield option, having been used in that role against Chile, but Sigmund struggled against the quick and skilled Chile attackers and did not get a ringing endorsement from the coach after the match.
"It was tough for Ben today - South American sides are always going to be a little bit more on the ball. And he hasn't had a blowout since Australia," Herbert said.
While the Chile game was portrayed as an insignificant training run, it did act as a reminder of how New Zealand is not well suited to playing South American sides.
The All Whites, who play Paraguay in their final group game, struggled against the speed, skill and ball movement of the Chilean players.
The great news, Brown aside, is that the All Whites are injury free and, while outplayed by Chile, again showed their ability to create chances.
"Once they gel ... we have created chances against arguably some of the best teams in the world and that could represent our roll of the dice in the World Cup," Herbert said.
THE SCORES
• Chile 2 - Gonzalo Fierro, Esteban Paredes
• New Zealand 0
- Chris Rattue.
