Japan had impressed in their opening two matches but were outclassed by England, who scored a second through substitute Rachel Yankey midway through the second half to secure the points.

Captain Faye White and midfielder Fara Williams were both rested by England manager Hope Powell, whose side started well. Ellen White had a good chance to open the scoring inside 10 minutes but her close-range effort was blocked.

England went ahead after 15 minutes when Karen Carney picked out Ellen White with an inch-perfect through-ball and the Arsenal striker made no mistake in lobbing Ayumi Kaihori in the Japan goal from just outside the box.

Japan struggled to get a stranglehold on the match as England knocked the ball around with confidence, although a quickly-taken free-kick 10 minutes before half-time caught the England back-line napping and Sophie Bradley needed to produce a dramatic goalmouth clearance.

England nearly doubled their lead when Jess Clarke's cross was met acrobatically by Ellen White but this time Kaihori tipped her effort over the bar.

The Japanese began to impose themselves on the game after the interval but still failed to create any clear-cut openings although Yuki Nagasato got on the end of a long free-kick only to prod wide from six yards.

England then punished their opponents' inability to score in the 66th minute when half-time substitute Yankey, the most experienced international player in the current squad, was played in by Rachel Unitt and scored with a smart finish from a narrow angle.

Nahomi Kawasumi then worked a good chance for herself in stoppage time before thrashing her effort high and wide.

Despite their defeat, Japan joined England in the quarter-finals as group runners-up.

The identity of England's opponents in the quarter-final was of no concern to manager Powell, who praised her players for sticking to their game-plan.

"I don't care (who the opposition is)," she told BBC Sport. "We are in the quarters and whatever gets put in front of us we have to deal with. We are still in the competition and we are not going home.

"We were very, very good today. You have got to respect Japan and the way they play but we had a game-plan and we implemented it. We haven't conceded, we have scored goals and won the group - it can only improve confidence."

Powell felt the changes she made to the team proved England have strength in depth, but admitted there was still room for improvement.

She said: "We always said at the beginning the squad would get us out of the group. Sophie Bradley was enormous today and we changed a few things and the girls did really well.

"We are getting closer but we are not there yet - the ambition was to get out of the group, to top the group and now we prepare for the next game."