Scotland head coach Shelley Kerr has said that her team are underdogs against Japan when the teams meet at the World Cup on Friday but that doesn't change their ambitions.

The national side lost 2-1 to England in their opening game and gave a good account of themselves against the group favourites.

Kerr has been preparing her side for what she says will be another difficult encounter and a different style to what they've been up against already.

"It's a different type of game," she said. "We're going to face a very competent Japanese team that are technically very proficient with good feet. Their movement is incredible.

"So our game plan changes a little in terms of how we combat that."

Japan opened their campaign against Argentina and drew 0-0 against the lowest ranked side in the group. Kerr warned that nobody should read too much into that result and that if anything it may change the opponent's mentality.

"It probably makes our job a little more difficult because it changes the dynamic for Japan," he said. "Obviously getting a point, I think there's a perception externally that Japan was going to win but we know how good they are.

"Just because they only drew against a lower-ranked team, we are still in for a tough, tough time. they have some exceptional players and we have to be mindful of that. but certainly, it doesn't change how we approach the game but perhaps it does for Japan."

And Kerr was in doubt as to what she and her players were aiming for when they take to the pitch in Rennes, though she underlined the fact that Scotland are underdogs against a team with a strong reputation.

"Our expectations are still the same," she said. "The target hasn't changed for us - we still want to try and get out of the group.

"We approach every game looking for performance and we always try to get a result.

"I think we said when we came here that, to put things into perspective, we're playing a Japanese team that's ranked seventh in the world and we previously played an England team ranked third. We are in pot 3 in our group and across all the groups we are the second bottom pot 3 team by ranking.

"So it's always going to be tough for us.

"To try and get out of the group we have to win at least one game so our plan hasn't changed.

"To the question 'are we going for a win?'... of course we are."