Sol Campbell has pledged that "living on the edge" will bring the best out of him and the rest of the England team.

The Arsenal central defender is relishing the win-or-go-out situation that England now find themselves in as they prepare to take on Denmark in tomorrow's second phase match in Niigata (12.30).

Sven-Goran Eriksson's side qualified from the 'Group Of Death' with the aid of draws against Sweden and Nigeria as well as the historic win over Argentina.

Now Campbell, who will win his 50th cap against the Danes, knows that one piece of magic or a single mistake could either spell joy or despair and it is a scenario he cannot wait to get to grips with.

But he is keeping his fingers crossed that England can settle the issue without having to go to penalty shoot-outs which provided them with so much despair in Italia '90, Euro '96 and France '98 when they lost out to Germany (twice) and Argentina.

The 27-year-old said: "We all enjoyed beating Argentina but then followed that up with a game against Nigeria where we had to get a point and just do enough.

"Now we are at the stage where you've got to win, the knockout stages, and I think that will bring the best out of the team without question.

"It will definitely bring the best out of a lot of players - including me. Now you are going to see a lot more from the players. Now the real games begin.

"I prefer being in a situation where everything is on the edge and you've got to win or go out of the competition. It livens you up straight away.

"It doesn't matter who you play. There is so much more on the line and we will relish that kind of thing. This is where England want to be. This is where I want to be."

Campbell admitted: "I just hope we can do the job inside the 90 minutes. I'd love for that to happen. We've had penalties too many times and seen things not go for us like the shoot-out against Argentina four years ago.

"I will be at the back of the queue if it goes to penalties - but it is something we worked on in the build-up to the World Cup and I am sure will happen again in the next few days."

Campbell, who won his first cap against Hungary three weeks before Euro '96, would love to mark his 50th appearance by helping England into the quarter-finals.

He said: "There has been a lot of hard work in getting to this stage but it is such a great honour to get to 50 caps. There are not a lot of players who manage that.

"It will mean the world to me and to score would be even better! But it would be great to mark it by helping England into the next round."

Not that the former Tottenham player will take Denmark for granted after they topped their qualifying group and in the process eliminated world champions France.

Campbell said: "If France had got through, I honestly believe they would have got better and better but Denmark must be doing something right in getting through their group.

"They are similar to Sweden in their own little way. They are all honest players, a few of whom play in the Premier League, and they are no mugs in getting to this stage.

"It will be a difficult game but we will be ready. Hopefully with the game at 8.30 and the temperatures cooler, then we can play the way we want to play.

"We want to keep going because I know what it means to the fans back home. Everything is feeling good there at the moment and we want to try and give them some more happy times."