Japan play for pole as England need draw to advance

AUGSBURG, Germany (AFP) - Japan enter their final Group B match already qualified for the 2011 Women's World Cup quarter-finals and wanting to continue their consistent play while England need at least a draw to move into the final eight.

With a perfect six points, the Japanese returned to the quarters for the first time since 1995 on the heels of their 4-0 blasting of Mexico thanks to Homare Sawa's hat-trick.
Head coach Norio Sasaki does not want his team to let up against England in Augsburg, with Japan also seeking to break their duck of having never beaten a European side at the World Cup.
"Our improvement will not stop, and I'm confident of a continued improvement in performance. It (The England match) will be a very fine tool to see whether we will be able to express our own style of football," said Sasaki, whose team will face either Germany or France in the final eight.
"English football is of a high quality. They have great team spirit, and we want to have as high a quality and hopefully have a good result."
For England, a good result would be at least a draw - which would push head coach Hope Powell's team into the quarters for the third time in three World Cup appearances following 1995 and 2007.
Japan are top of Group B with six points from two games, with England second on four, Mexico have one and New Zealand none.
The English would love a date with either the French or Germans - the latter being the team that knocked them out in the 1995 last eight.
England could even move on with a loss if Mexico do not beat New Zealand in their final Group B match or cannot make up England's five-goal advantage on goal difference.
"We want to stay in the competition for all of the support we have back home. It will be a tough game. We haven't got out of the group by any stretch of the imagination yet," said Powell, whose side have never beaten Japan.
The coach must find a game plan and defence to slow down the Japanese attack - the best at Germany 2011 so far with six goals in two matches.
"We know Japan are a very technical side. We have to make sure we hit the ground running better than we have done so far," said Powell, whose team needed to fight back from an early goal by New Zealand before winning with two goals in the final 27 minutes.
"Our ball retention needs to be slicker. We haven't hit the mark yet, and there is a lot of room for improvement."