Heartbreak. Four years ago that is what the Lionesses felt in Canada when they lost to Japan in their World Cup semi-final. Except Lucy Bronze barely remembers the occasion because everything was “blurry”.

For the first time in her career Bronze was so ill in Edmonton she had to be substituted. For a player who embodies her middle name Tough, the idea of being too sick to play was inconceivable.

“I was really ill that day in the semi-final – I don’t remember a lot,” she says as England prepare to face Japan again, in Wednesday’s final group match. “I was throwing up a lot. I was throwing up pretty much all day. I think it was food poisoning. That’s why I was subbed. It was very blurry. It wasn’t the sickness that stopped me, it was cramps. My body just went into shock.”

England’s unexpected run to the semi-finals had captured the interest of many back home. BBC One recorded a late-night audience of 2.4 million. In the United States, 2.3 million tuned in – then a record for a game not involving the USA.

Japan, the defending champions, went ahead through an Aya Miyama penalty. Fara Williams levelled from the spot but with the clock ticking towards extra time Laura Bassett diverted a cross on to the bar and into her own net. Some England players fell to their knees and a devastated Bassett could not be consoled by the embrace of her teammates on the final whistle.

Wednesday’s meeting with Japan is hardly of the same significance but England know that avoiding defeat would deliver top spot in Group D and present, in theory, a more straightforward passage to another semi-final.

Reflecting on four years ago is a lot easier now for England’s players, but if the pain has gone, the memory has not. “It’s always in the back of your head,” says Bronze, “but you do get over it. I think that’s what the Germany game [in the third-place play-off] was for us back then.

“It was putting Japan to bed and getting a bronze medal and getting back to winning, and reaching third place, which we had never done before in our history. We remember all the painful games. You remember all the big games that you’ve lost but that memory has long been put behind us. We’ve played Japan since then, beat them, and beat them well. We move on.”

Four years is a long time in women’s football. The progression of the game in England has been huge, and it is notable that a peak TV audience of 5.4m watched Friday’s win over Argentina. “Now we are more prepared,” Bronze says. “We have been to semi-finals. Back then it was so new to us – even getting to that semi-final was huge.”

March’s SheBelieves Cup win against Japan, although a friendly and with neither side wanting to give too much away before the World Cup, has given the team confidence, says Bronze. “They did [have a changed side]. But at the same time we had a lot of inexperienced players. When I look back our midfield was very inexperienced.

“Beth Mead was quite inexperienced. Leah Williamson started that game. A lot of players who didn’t have a lot of caps played in that game. We didn’t have our strongest players out as well. We changed it and showed that we can still win. We were 3-0 up in the first half so we know they were missing players but we know we can do better than we did before.”

Bronze was one of the team in 2015; now the Lyon right-back is a leader. The Ballon d’Or nominee and two-times Champions League-winner is a focal point of the team and, despite preferring to shy away from the spotlight, she has embraced the role her talent has thrust upon her. Keeping her fit and well throughout the World Cup will be vital to England. The severe sickness that crippled her 2015 campaign is long in the past. “I don’t know what it was that I ate. I’ve never had it before and I’ve never had it since.

“We went back to the same stadium to play the third- and fourth-placed play-off game and my sick was still there,” she says with a big grin. “I turned around on the bench and it was still there. I was sick on the bench at half-time, before the game and when I came off.”