There's a score to settle with Argentina

More than anything else this week, we have spoken about our passing and the need to keep possession of the ball. I wrote last week about the draining effects of having to chase for long periods in a game.

If we concede possession too easily against Argentina, it will be a long time before we see it again!

We have had a little time for relaxation this week, although every time we leave the hotel as a team there has to be a huge security operation. For example, we went to do some shopping in Kobe, about an hour from our hotel.

The department store was closed for us yet there were still hundreds of Japanese fans waiting outside to greet us. We are beginning to take this reaction a little for granted now, but every entrance we make is like the scene outside a film premiere. David James and myself were able to take a relatively low-profile trip to a Shinto shrine. On behalf of the team we were invited to take part in a ceremony dating back some 3000 years, to pray for good luck for the team.

It was a great privilege to have the opportunity to take part in such a ceremony. Normally, this shrine would only be entered by royalty or the like. It was great to see a small part of the real Japan, away from the hullabaloo of the tournament.

Of course, we hope our prayers will have been well received but we face a very tough game in Sapporo. Argentina were one of the teams who really impressed me in the first round of matches. Since the draw was made, this has undoubtedly been the fixture that the whole country has been waiting for. The history between the two countries, on and off the football field, clearly raises the profile of the game. However, our manager has been keen to stress that we musn't look for revenge in this encounter.

He is right of course. You need to go into a match focussed on the job in hand and not be distracted by events that have gone on in the past.

In my opinion sport and politics should never cross over but from a football point of view it will be very hard for the boys who were involved in the game in St Etienne four years ago not to find extra motivation from events that night. Everyone involved would remember, vividly, the game that evening and the disappointment at going out of the tournament. What sticks with the players though was the reaction of the opposition long after the game.

Of course, having won the tie Argentina were entitled to celebrate. But our families had come into the compound where the team coaches were waiting afterwards.

As we all took some precious time with the people closest to us, the Argentinian coach pulled away with their team standing in the aisles, banging on the windows towards us, dancing and swinging their tops over their heads.

It is a scene that will live with every player present that evening - forever.

Of course the events that night have no bearing on this game. We need to win to help progress through the group and that is the most important thing.

But, to quote a former England manager, 'I would love it' if we could win this one!