Mills: Nigeria will be like wounded animal

England defender Danny Mills believes the ‘‘wounded animal’’ of Nigeria and not the heat could shatter their World Cup dream.

Sven-Goran Eriksson’s men need just a draw against the African nation on Wednesday to go through to the second stages.

With Nigeria already out after two defeats, many think England’s task will be made easier, but the Leeds star warned: ‘‘It’s almost a case of the wounded animal. They have a lot of pride to play for.

‘‘They are not going to want to leave the competition without a win. They can go out a bit more relaxed and play without fear and sometimes that can be a very dangerous thing.’’

England’s biggest problem appears to be the heat and the temperatures will be sky high when they kick off in Osaka.

They have already experienced the heat there when they faced Cameroon before the World Cup, but Mills reckons they can handle that factor.

He told Sky Sports: ‘‘You have no choice but to deal with it. There’s not a lot we can do. You can’t hide out there.

‘‘We know it’s going to be the hottest game we’ve played in so far, but we will try to go out there and play our normal game.

‘‘We’ll try to be organised try and try to do the same things against Argentina and get the win.’’

He revealed that the victory over Argentina has given the players more confidence, but insists that will mean nothing if they cannot complete the job and talk of winning the competition is far too premature.

Mills continued ‘‘I think the lads are fully confident and always have been. We always knew that if we played reasonably well and played to the sort of standards we are capable of we can do reasonably well.

‘‘Obviously it’s a great confidence booster but it means nothing if we don’t go and qualify from the group now.

‘‘Senegal beat France - does that mean they are going to win the World Cup? Who knows. In itself it was a fantastic result, but without another three or four great results it means nothing at all.’’

Mills also rejects the feeling that England will struggle to rise to the occasion against Nigeria in the same way as they did against Argentina on Friday.

He added: ‘‘It’s a World Cup game and everybody wants to play in and do well in the World Cup.

‘‘We know after the Argentina we need another big performance and we can top the group and win the game that will breed even more confidence and hopefully give us the spirit to go on from there.’’

It is clear confidence in the camp is sky high and Mills believes that support they have from England’s travelling army and even Japanese fans makes each game almost like they are playing with home advantage.

He added: ‘‘It’s fantastic. It’s always great. There were nearly 10,000 fans at the Argentina game and to have that sort of support is always great.

‘‘It’s almost like having home advantage. The Japanese people have been tremendous in their support.

‘‘The number of people wearing England shirts and flags has been absolutely fantastic.’’