England insist they will not be seeking revenge for their heartbreaking defeat by Japan at the last FIFA Women's World Cup when the teams meet at this year's tournament, but they believe the Japanese players will fear them more this time.

Japan knocked England out in the semifinals four years ago, and the sides will clash in a fourth consecutive World Cup in their final Group D game on June 19 in Nice, France.

"Everybody thinks it's a bit of a crunch game, and it's about revenge, but we respect Japan and they're a very good footballing side," said England captain Steph Houghton at her team's pre-World Cup media day at St. George's Park in central England's Burton upon Trent.

"The only thing that I've got on my mind is winning the game of football. It's not about revenge. It's about playing a very good side and being in a position to play the best football that we can," she said.

Japan sent England home from Canada in 2015 after an injury-time own goal by Laura Bassett gave them a 2-1 win, a result that Lionesses midfielder Jade Moore described before the upcoming tournament as "devastating" and "cruel."

(Laura Basset (L) scores the late own goal that sent England home from the 2015 finals in Canada in their 2-1 defeat to Japan)

However, England have improved dramatically in recent years and find themselves in the unusual position of being higher ranked, in third place, than Japan, who are seventh.

"Usually when you think of Japan you think, 'Oh dear, that's going to be a hard game, a technical game,'" said Moore. "But now with all these bigger teams who have always been ranked above us, our mindset has changed."

"People fear us now, rather than the other way around, and that is a really privileged place to be, especially coming into a World Cup. So I think Japan will probably fear us more than we will fear them, this time around."

England beat Japan 3-0 to win the SheBelieves Cup, a four-team tournament in the United States also featuring the host nation and Brazil, in March. But England goalkeeper Karen Bardsley does not believe Japan were at full strength at that tournament and will prove a much tougher opponent at the World Cup.

"My previous experience against Japan is that they are an incredibly talented side with tremendous depth and technical skill," said Bardsley, who played against Japan eight years ago at the 2011 World Cup.

"By no means are we going to take anything for granted. We played them in the She Believes and I feel that they deliberately played a weakened squad, so we know they definitely will be much stronger come the group stages (and) we have the utmost respect for them."

(Steph Houghton waves to the crowd after England's friendly against New Zealand on June 1)[Getty/Kyodo]

Bardsley and England forward Ellen White highlighted Lyon defensive midfielder Saki Kumagai as a key player for Japan, and the England players, in general, were generous with their praise for Japan.

"I love playing against Japan, I love their style of football," said White. "To play against such an incredible nation, it is always very competitive and those games are always really exciting and we are really looking forward to facing them again."

White scored England's first goal in their 2-0 group match win over Japan at the 2011 World Cup, which Japan went on to win.

"It was special as I could say I scored against the world champions," she said.

"That was an amazing achievement for Japan, but I was quite proud to have scored against them in that tournament."

England's veteran midfielder Jill Scott played against Japan at the 2007, 2011 and 2015 World Cups, with the semifinal defeat four years ago the one that most sticks in her mind.

"It was a cruel way to go out, a last-minute own goal, but I am so proud of how we picked ourselves up and beat Germany to win the bronze," she said.

"We have all experienced defeat and we want to use that to spur us on. Japan are a very difficult team and when they won it in 2011 we were the only team to beat them. They are fantastic, technically, tactically, and we know we're going to have to be on the top of our game," Scott added.