Indeed, Juninho, who now plays for Flamengo in Brazil, accepts his team face their hardest test of the competition so far against England.

‘‘England have quality up front with Michael Owen and Emile Heskey, so we have to take care of them. England against Brazil will be the best match so far,’’ he declared.

‘‘They are playing well. David Beckham is playing well, as is Paul Scholes. With each game, Michael Owen is also getting better so I hope he won’t play well against Brazil.

‘‘We have to be worried about the whole team though, not just individual players. Whoever wins this match has a great chance to be champions."

Barcelona midfielder Rivaldo added: ‘‘England are a very good team and very strong in the final third of the pitch.

‘‘They have a lot of tradition and two special players - Beckham and Owen. But I believe our defence is strong and we will be able to stop them."

Eriksson left the ground without commenting on Brazil’s victory, although he discussed the potential threat of the South American side following his own team’s second round win against Denmark.

‘‘It would be a very tricky game so it would have been nice to play them in the final,’’ he admitted.

‘‘All the players believe we can go through, although I’ve not heard any of them saying we can win the World Cup or reach the final as they have always just been focused on the next game.’’

Eriksson knows all about the threat posed by Ronaldo now that he is on the international comeback trail following the injuries which have blighted his career since the 1998 World Cup.

‘‘I’ve met Ronaldo many times and when he’s fit, it’s very difficult to take him on. So it’s a big test as Rivaldo can also do everything with the ball.’’

Eriksson is nevertheless confident that Michael Owen will have recovered from a slight groin strain in time to take on Brazil, although the striker was not due to take part in full training today.

Other minor injuries affecting Heskey and Scholes are also understood to be clearing up before the team travel up to Shizuoka on Wednesday with confidence levels high.

Meanwhile Rio Ferdinand has revealed the high expectancy level in the England squad for the World Cup and claimed it would be a ‘‘disaster’’ if they were to bow out at the quarter-final hurdle.

‘‘Let’s make it clear, we would not be happy with just a quarter-final place. There is absolutely no way that we would settle for a brave defeat on Friday.

‘‘We won’t settle for just anything because we definitely have the talent within the squad to go all the way to the final. That is not us being arrogant but we are very confident and we have a great belief

within us. We are all young lads together and we want to do well," said Ferdinand.