England could qualify from Group F as the winners if results go their way but they could also be heading home if other matches go against them

Whatever happens beneath the closed roof of Montreal’s cavernous Olympic Stadium on Wednesday night no one can accuse Mark Sampson of being ill-prepared.

England’s coach knows that a win against Colombia in their final Group F game could potentially offer his side an easier passage through the knockout stages of Canada 2015.

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A point could assure progression to the last 16 but the 32-year-old has still spent hours poring over shaky camera phone footage of Las Cafeteras provided by David Gough, the squad’s chief opposition analyst.

“Women’s football is still at the stage where it’s incredibly difficult to get hold of proper footage of teams like Colombia,” says Sampson. “Our head of analysis has gone out there six times to watch them live but all he had was a camera phone so it made it very difficult. I don’t think I’d know how to film a match on a phone but Dave’s done a great job trekking round the world and getting a few more stamps in his passport.”

Sampson and his coaches have been able to join the dots in Gough’s dossier after the luxury of viewing complete television recordings of Colombia’s 1-1 draw with Mexico and shock 2-0 win over the group favourites France. Along the way Felipe Taborda’s team scored their first ever World Cup goals and win.

“Watching the first two games, what we’ve been fed back from Goughy is becoming very clear,” says England’s coach. “We’re in a better place than if we’d had to play them first.”

Not that an England win is exactly simple. “This is a dangerous Colombian team,” says Sampson. “Emotionally they’re now in a fantastic place. They’ve beaten the favourites and they’ve got a huge confidence boost. You can feel their energy. They’ve got tremendous national pride and they’re well placed to qualify. They’re resolute, very strong physically and they’re going to be really tough opponents.

“They’re not as structured as European teams but we’ve still got to break down their deep defensive block and work around the centre-back who sits in front of the back four and does a great job breaking up attacks. And we’ve got to deal with their threat on the counterattacks.”

While the coach fine-tunes his gameplan, England’s travel department are faced with a logistical nightmare. Depending on the outcome of both their match and France v Mexico, which kicks off at the same time in Ottawa, England could conceivably finish anywhere in Group F.

Topping it means remaining in Montreal, potentially until the final in Vancouver. Second place means relocating to Ottawa for the round of 16, and qualifying as one of the four best third-place finishers involves heading to Edmonton or Vancouver on Thursday morning.

“Our travel planners are looking at all the possible flights and hotels,” says Sampson. “There’s so many permutations but there’s no panic, more a sense of calm. We’ll take the hand we’re dealt.

“Three points against Colombia puts us through, whether that’s as first or second we’ll have to wait and see and, potentially, a point also gets us through. So we’re in a good place, Colombia’s not a must-win.”

There seems a newfound serenity about the Welshman in the wake of Saturday’s restorative 2-1 win over Mexico. After losing last Tuesday’s opener in a defensive performance against France, he was heavily criticised and evidently felt under pressure to deliver his first major tournament win.

“The players took the flak, accepted the criticism,” he says. “They really embraced it. They opened up to the pressure and took it on board. We raised the bar against Mexico and the challenge now is to push it even higher against Colombia. In terms of mood it was about not getting too low after France, now it’s about not getting too high.”

England’s medical team are learning about pressure too. “Our medical team have been overworked,” Sampson says. “This tournament chucks some challenges at them, the turf for one.”

The tournament’s artificial pitches are proving tricky. “We always knew some players would take a little longer to recover on these surfaces,” he says. “We’ve looked into the impact of this kind of surface on certain joints and muscles and recovery times and put certain procedures in place.”

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There is also the need to prevent the players’ feet overheating on pitches which are routinely about 16C (30F) hotter than their grass equivalents. “The hot surfaces are something we prepared for,” says Sampson. “The players were aware of the type of boots they’ve got to wear but I’m not giving away the secrets of the way we try to protect them and keep their feet cool.”

Fran Kirby and Karen Carney, both scorers against Mexico, have particularly gifted size sixes. While Kirby – Sampson’s Mini Messi – seems certain to start, Carney – dubbed The Wizard by her coach – has only recently recovered from back trouble and it is less certain she can last 90 minutes.

No matter, Sampson is simply pleased to have his creative catalyst in Canada. “Carney’s had to sacrifice a lot,” he says. “She’s dedicated the last sixth months of her life to getting fit for this tournament.”

Like Kirby, Carney has suffered bouts of severe depression. The 27-year-old acknowledges there were times, a few years ago, when she hated football with a passion and could barely drag herself to training.

Her recovery has been accompanied by a renewed zest for the game. Yet much as she is relishing being part of Canada 2015, Carney knows Colombia may not be pleasant opponents. “They’ll be flamboyant and in your face,” she says. “They’ll kick and foul you. They’ll break up play and frustrate you. We’ll need to be really switched on.”