Scotland's chances of pulling off a show-stopping surge into the knockout stages of their first Women's World Cup look in rude health – but head coach Shelley Kerr is doing her utmost to foster tunnel vision.

Firstly, Kerr's charges proved that they can compete with the best of the biggest stage with the manner of their spirited second-half fightback against England, even if they still fell to a 2-1 loss at the hands of Phil Neville's hotly-tipped charges.

And if Scotland hadn't already given themselves enough of a confidence boost, unfancied Argentina held former World Cup winners Japan, who they face on Friday in Rennes (kick-off 2pm UK time), to a goalless draw earlier this week.

Opportunity knocks in an almighty way, but Kerr is calling on her players to keep their feet firmly on the ground.

“Our expectations are still the same. The target hasn’t changed for us – we still want to get out of the group,” she said.

“We are playing a Japan team seventh in the world and we have played an England team who are ranked third.

“We’re a pot three team and the second-bottom pot three team at that, so it is always going to be tough for us.

“To try and get out of the group, we need to win at least one game, so our plan hasn’t changed. Of course, we’re going for a win.”

Despite her pragmatism, Kerr does take plenty of heart from the way in which lowly Argentina slammed the brakes on the world's seventh-ranked team.

Japan will likely be out to set the record straight after fluffing their lines last time out, and Scotland will need to summon up an iron will.

“They [Argentina] were very compact, defended very deeply, and it worked for them,” said Kerr.

“Japan couldn’t find the space they normally create by good movement and the deeper you go towards your own goal, it becomes very tough.

“Argentina were very defensively resilient, but they were also a danger on the counter-attack. Have we learned from it? Yes.

“You look at other nations playing, and you could see that the defensive discipline helped them get a point.

“It won’t be the same game. You can’t always replicate the way a nation plays because you have your own style and system which we have to be mindful of.”

And are there any ways in which Scotland can gain an advantage against the fearsome Japanese – Kerr reckons physicality might just give them the edge.

The former Arsenal chief said: “If you look at Kim Little and Erin Cuthbert, there might be a good match when it comes to the height difference with Japan!

“When teams play against Japan, they’re looking to gain a physical advantage.

“We need to concentrate in being better on the ball and creating chances because that’s something that we didn’t do very well in the England game.

“We’ve got the players capable of doing that. We’ve worked really well on the training pitch to put in a plan that we think can be successful against Japan.”

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