Kanu (top) - out for revenge. (Allsport)

By John Curtis, PA Sport, Kobe

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Ashley Cole has warned England to beware the wounded pride of Kanu when they look to secure their place in the second phase of the World Cup at the expense of Nigeria in Osaka on Wednesday.

Kanu has been recovering from a stomach injury which meant that he was only introduced as a late substitute in his country's 2-1 defeat by Sweden.

Cole believes it is another kind of hurt - that of Nigeria having already been eliminated from the competition - which England will have to be aware of from his Arsenal team-mate.

But the left-back is confident that England can maintain their interest in the competition if they repeat the kind of performance shown in the single goal success over Argentina in the Sapporo Dome.

Cole told PA Sport: "Nigeria have got pride at stake now after going out of the World Cup and I know that will be true of Kanu.

"I obviously know him well from Arsenal and I know he is not a loser and he doesn't like losing.

"You can be sure that he will be rallying his team on Wednesday to try and get a result against England and at least go home on a positive note.

"But we have to try and play like we did against Argentina and then hopefully we will go through to the next round. That game showed how good the players are.

"In this World Cup we have seen that every game is tough but if we just concentrate on how we perform then I don't see why we should worry about anyone else.

"If we have to come second in the group to go through, then it wouldn't matter.

"It's just as long as we do make it through and there are no slip-ups."

Cole admits that Friday's win against the Argentinians was extra special to him as less than two years ago he was still a virtual unknown outside of Highbury.

And he is full of praise for the way coach Sven-Goran Eriksson helped to give England the belief to avenge their 1998 reversal in the finals after the second half fade-out against Sweden.

Cole said: "It is hard to believe all this is happening. Two years ago I was a no-one, a reserve-team player, and now to be part of a team which has just beaten Argentina is amazing.

"I also played in the 5-1 win in Germany which was a great day for me but I think the Argentinian game just edged that with it being in the actual finals. That makes it a bit special.

"There was a lot of pressure on the game and everyone was saying 'we're not going to do it' but we proved a lot of people wrong.

"The manager just kept pushing the fact that we could do it, that we were a great team. The second half of the Sweden game had been poor but he kept telling us we were good enough. He said it was a matter of us believing in ourselves."

Cole picked up an early booking but showed his character by refusing to be unsettled by the intimidating tactics of the Argentinians.

He said: "(Ariel) Ortega is a tough guy and I was disappointed to get booked so early in the game but in the second half I stood up to him, did not tackle so much and it went okay.

"We knew they were going to intimidate us and get on our nerves but we are better than that and controlled ourselves quite well."