After Friday's matches which saw the European uprising team winning valuable point against defending champions Germnay, England sit third in group standings on two points with two draws from as many matches.

Japan, the arch-rivals for England in requesting for a top-two finishers at the group stage, nipped a 1-0 victory over minnows Argentina on a late goal, moving up to the second on 4 points after tying England 2-2 on Tuesday in their opening match.

Germany still lead the group on 4 points, beating Japan on goal differential after rouping the South American champions Argentina 11-0 in the tournament opener.

The defending champions, however, could help England advance from the group, as they take Japan on Monday and anything expect a defeat against the newly emerging Asians will gift their European neighbors an edge.

But for sure to make the quarterfinals, England will not sound with anything less than a win, while their rivals come to a wary-less game after becoming the first to exit from the tournament.

"We have to beat Argentina and that's going to be a hard task. They've lost their games and they are going to want to come out and prove a point," admitted England midfielder Kelly Smith.

As one of the hottest pro-tournament favorites to emerge in China as the surprising package, England have matched their repute by outplaying Germany for parts of Friday's game, especially in the first half, though they had to withstand waves of German pressure in the last 20 minutes.

Argentina, having been naive against Germany to lose 11-0, have obviously learned from the stunning defeat and shut up shop in their second match to lose only narrowly to Japan. They were not seen attack but to take Japan to the final minute showed it could not be an easy game when England play them.

England's Katie Chapman is suspended for Monday's encounter after collecting two yellow cards in the first two games, while Argentina have no injury or suspension worries.

Coach Hope Powell, however, insisted England never rely on one player, instead highlighting the contribution of the team as a whole.

"I have always said from the outset that this England team is never about one player," she said. "Sometimes a player catches the limelight, like Kelly in the last game but without the team they won't be able to shine."

Kelly Smith was the outstanding England player against Japan, but on Friday, it was captain Faye White who produced the performance of the game and, time and again, snuffed out the Germany attack.