Hope Powell’s team were eliminated from the Women’s Euro 2005 on Saturday, when they lost their final group game 1-0 to Sweden at Ewood Park.

But while the Swedes and the other three semi-finalists - Germany, Norway and Finland – prepare themselves for the knock-out stage of the tournament England are already thinking ahead to their first World Cup qualifier, away to Austria on 01 September.

France, Holland and Hungary are the other teams in England’s qualifying group with the French, who sit fifth in FIFA’s world rankings compared to England at 14th, the main danger to Powell’s team as they look to reach China for the 2007 finals.

The National Coach, proud of her players for their displays in three group matches watched by a total of just under 70,000 spectators and millions on TV, said: "I take massive heart from our performances in this tournament.

"We’ve proved we can compete with the best in the world and now we want to qualify for the 2007 World Cup. It’s going to be very tough because we’ve got France in our group, but the Women’s Euro 2005 has shown that the gap between the top teams and others is closing and there are no foregone conclusions now.

"We’ve got a young squad and although they’ve done magnificently well in this Euro tournament there’s still more to come from them.

"So the World Cup qualifying campaign will be another exciting time for them. It’s a series of games that will test us again, but we are looking forward to that test."

Powell’s players are most certainly looking forward to the test and are doing so with confidence boosted after going so close to qualifying for the semi-finals of the European Championship for the first time in ten years.

If they had managed an equaliser against Sweden they would, with a final scoreline of 1-1, have finished at the top of Group A.

That was sadly not to be, but heads were held high throughout the squad as they dispersed from the team headquarters following their dismissal from the tournament.

"The girls have put in the performances," said experienced striker Kelly Smith, "but unfortunately we didn’t get the results we needed.

"The public have seen what we can do though, and we're proud of our efforts. We’ve got some great youngsters coming through, like Karen Carney and Eni Aluko, and they'll have learned from this.

"We're just looking forward, that's all we can do now. We're gutted to be out of the Euros, but qualifying for the 2007 World Cup finals is our next aim.

"We have to learn from this tournament, re-group and then set ourselves on the way to the finals when the qualifiers start.

"There's going to be a big determination on my part to stay injury-free to help the team progress through the qualifiers, and we can definitely do it - without a shadow of doubt we're going to be there at the World Cup!"