Coach Mark Sampson believes England have 'a lot of weapons' with which to attack Japan in their Women's World Cup semi-final.
England will go in as underdogs against the reigning champions - Sampson listed the four semi-finalists as "world champions, European champions (Germany), Olympic champions (the United States), and then us lot" - and Japan coach Norio Sasaki said at his pre-match press conference that his players are "technically superior" to England's.
But Sampson responded: "Okay, we'll have to appreciate and respect the quality they've got, but I've got some half-decent players technically myself.
"I wouldn't argue that in tight spaces, Japan have a way of moving the ball that could cause lots of teams problems - but there's a lot of weapons they're going to have to stand up to."
Two contrasting goals in successive games from a full-back, Lucy Bronze, bear that out, while centre-back Steph Houghton struck at a set-piece in the last-16 win over Norway and forwards Jodie Taylor and Fran Kirby, winger Karen Carney and midfielder Fara Williams have also found the net.
Sampson continued: "We've been very adaptable in this tournament.
"We've seen an England team work the ball through the thirds and create goalscoring chances, we've seen an England team play from back to front quickly, we've seen an England team press flat out but also, when we need to, defend our goal.
"And of course there's that element of the set-piece as well. We're not going to be a one-trick pony.
"We've upset the apple cart so far and that'll be our intention tomorrow."
There is one omen in England's favour after they beat Japan 2-1 to finish ahead of them in the 2011 group stage - the Asian side's only defeat as they went on to beat the United States on penalties in the final.
Midfielder Jill Scott, who played in that group match in Augsburg, said: "We put in a great performance that day.
"Japan had a lot of possession but we kept our shape and hit them on the counter-attack twice through Ellen White and Rachel Yankey.
"I think we were the only team in that tournament to beat Japan so we can take confidence from that. They are world champions and w e have to respect that b ut we have beaten them before, so why not again tomorrow?"
Goalkeeper Karen Bardsley should be available even though Sampson admitted England are "still not exactly clear" on what caused the allergic reaction that forced her off in the quarter-final win over host nation Canada.
The States once more await the winners in Sunday's final after beating Germany 2-0 with goals from Carli Lloyd and Kelley O'Hara, setting up either a repeat of four years ago or a meeting for coach Jill Ellis with the country of her birth - she hails from Portsmouth.
Outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter will not be in Vancouver to present the trophy. A statement from the governing body read: "Due to their current commitments in Zurich, the FIFA president and the FIFA secretary general (Jerome Valcke) will remain at the FIFA headquarters."
Source: PA
