Sven-Goran Eriksson threw down the World Cup gauntlet to his England team last night and challenged them to rekindle the spirit of Munich.

The England coach wants his players to prove they belong on the world stage by replicating the performance they gave last September in thrashing Germany 5-1 in the Olympic Stadium.

Since then, England have just scrambled into the World Cup finals and given a series of disappointing displays in friendlies before Sunday's dismal 1-1 draw with Sweden.

Argentina, England's World Cup nemesis in 1986 and 1998, promise to be Eriksson's toughest opponents since he took charge of the national side 19 months ago.

The Swede is aware of the huge task that faces his team but remains adamant that the youngest side in the tournament - the ten outfield players lining up from the start today have an average age of just 24 - have the mettle needed against one of the World Cup favourites.

"This is a game where you will find out about young players, and it will show who is big and who is not so big," he said.

"It is good to have the pressure that comes with having a good team and a big footballing nation - and I do have a very good team.

"I will be telling the players to show the same spirit as in Munich. We must have spirit stretching to the stars if we want to get a result.

"We got a big result by beating Germany and we have to look to try and produce another big result here.

"If we can play football as I know we can play, then we can disturb Argentina.

"We have a quiet team but they have to talk on the pitch in this game. We need 11 leaders for what is a game the whole world wants to see. It may be the biggest match in the group phase of this World Cup."

England's Group F fate will not be sealed by today's match, whatever the result, but they will go into the game aware of the outcome of the Sweden v Nigeria clash, which kicks off at 7.30am English time.

While victory today would not guarantee England a place in the second round, neither would a defeat sound the death knell for their hopes of success in the Far East.

However, Eriksson admitted: "We have to get a positive result if we want to continue playing in the World Cup after the Nigeria game on June 12.

"We need points so that we are not in a life or death situation in the last game. We had hoped to win in the opening game against Sweden and didn't do so, so of course the pressure is on us.

"But they have shown that they're a good side many times, and in this competition already in the first 35 minutes against Sweden.

"A win over Argentina would mean a lot. It would give us a big chance to progress in this tournament and would also be a big boost to confidence.

"But to get a good result against Argentina, we need to play for 90 minutes at our best. We need to improve our passing and not give possession away like we did last Sunday. As a coach, you hope you have solved your problems, but you only know the answer when you play the next game."

Despite David Beckham's comments yesterday about England needing to be more "cunning" against Argentina, Eriksson is confident the South Americans will not resort to a dirty tricks campaign.

The simmering resentment between the sides has been evident in the build-up to the game, with memories of Argentinian celebrations after their 1998 win and even the Falklands War being revived.

However, Eriksson has every confidence in Italian referee Pierluigi Collina to keep the game under control.

He added: "I had many of the Argentinian players at Lazio. I know them and they are professional football players. I have no fear about underhand tactics and, in any case, we will have a referee who is one of the best in the world. I am very calm about that."