So, the England women's team now face the biggest match in their history.

And it looks like they will be facing the Americans.

Oh well, only the No 1 side in the world then... www.fifa.com/worldfootball/r...

The good news for England is that the goals came easily against Argentina and they were able to relax and enjoy their progression into the brave new world of knockout international football.

The bad news was the booking of Fara Williams - who had thus far risen to the occasion unlike some of her overwhelmed team-mates - which means she misses the next game www.fifa.com/womenworldcup/s... though at least Katie Chapman will be back.

Another worrying weakeness which hopefully Hope Powell will address on the training pitch was England's freekick defence.

Rachel Brown has now conceded three goals from virtually identical positions on the edge of the box and Powell will need to work out how to protect her keeper better with the likes of Abby Wambach (78 goals in 96 internationals) on the prowl.
(Wambach's chest/half-volley finish against Sweden was the classiest goal I have seen in the tournament so far)

Against Germany England showed - to themselves as much as those watching - that they were a match for a top side, and had the guts to grind out a result.

This time they must go one further and truly believe they can win (as I believe they could have done against a lacklustre Germany had they needed to go all out for victory).

Kelly Smith will believe they can win - she spent some time playing in America and as she has shown to date, absolutely relishes the big stage.

But the likes of Rachel Yankey seem to have stuttered rather than relax into their natural game (she was better today but still looked hesitant).

Smith is now joint top scorer with Brazil's Marta and Germany's Birgit Prinz www.fifa.com/womenworldcup/s... and though she is a team player through and through, she will have more than one eye on the golden boot if England can upset the odds and progress.

Before she left for China, Smith told me that one of the main reasons why the Americans are so good is the fact they essentially play as a team for most of the year.

The majority of the top international players do not play club football but instead spend most of their time playing as professionals with Team USA en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...

Over the course of the three group games, we have begun to see the merits of the Arsenal backbone of this side ((six Gooners against Argentina) which some have criticised as showing a lack of depth in England) as the understanding between players has increased.

But England have only looked slick and free-flowing in short patches and though they were resilient in defence against Germany, they had to be because they gave away the ball so often. They also looked woefully disjointed up front at times.

So they will need to click in a way they have not yet managed if they are to undo USA.

The good news for Powell is she now has five days to work with her squad - and that she has already achieved what she came for, in qualification from the group, and now gets to release the shackles.

There are no more permutations to work through, no reasons to hold back, no goal difference to worry about.

It is all or nothing, it is their 'one shot'.

My one hope is, whatever the result, they find the confidence to play to the very top of their ability and put in a world-class performance.

Because it would be a travesty if, having got this far, they falter when the spotlight falls on their big moment at 1300 BST on Saturday.