Roy Hodgson firmly believes England have the firepower to gun down Uruguay and keep their World Cup dreams alive.

After four days of praise, criticism, analysis and debate, crunch time arrives for England on Thursday.

Manager Hodgson's 23-man squad landed in Sao Paulo on Wednesday morning knowing they would almost certainly be boarding a plane back to England next week if they lost.

Only a highly improbable set of circumstances would allow Hodgson's men to have any chance of making it through if they did so and a draw would take England's fate out of their own hands.

Much has been made of the threat Luis Suarez will pose to England, but Hodgson has extremely talented attackers at his disposal - or "weapons" as he likes to describe them.

And just like in Manaus, Hodgson will tell his young arsenal not to be afraid of going on the attack in Sao Paulo.

"We saw on Saturday night that even a top team like Italy got tested by the quality of our attacking play so we're not going to put any of our weapons down," the England manager said.

"Any weapon we've got we are going to try and use."

Hodgson is not a man for Churchillian speeches in the dressing room, so this was as close to a rallying call as we can expect to hear from the England boss.

Hodgson said he was unsure whether the Uruguay match should be regarded as the most important of his 39-year managerial career.

But the former Liverpool and Inter Milan coach clearly understands what is at stake.

"Even though it is the group stages, this is knock-out football," the 66-year-old said.

"It is an important moment. We want to stay in the competition and to do that we've got to get results in the next two games. No-one is running away from that."

Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge and Danny Welbeck all impressed for England in Manaus, but one big-name player who was criticised for his performance was Wayne Rooney.

Rooney started on the left against the Italians, but he is expected to be moved back into his preferred number 10 role for the Uruguay match.

While Rooney's form has been a hot topic in England, Uruguay's build-up to the game has been dominated by Suarez.

Suarez, who scored 31 Premier League goals last season, says he has fully overcome the knee injury he suffered just before the World Cup.

Hodgson admits Suarez is a major threat and he hopes his defence will be able to stifle the Liverpool striker.

"He's a front player. He plays all along the front line. He makes runs behind defenders, he comes off and gets the ball short," Hodgson said, when asked if he had a plan to stop Suarez.

"He does all the things you want a top player to do. So all we can do is make certain our defence is compact and we make it difficult for him in terms of not giving him space and the chance to do the things he wants to do.

"His return will be a big boost for them."

Even the most sceptical England fan would have been loath to criticise the team on Saturday night when they played some eye-catching attacking football, particularly in the first half.

But the defeat left England with plenty of work to do and for that reason Hodgson called the squad together on Sunday to remind them of their predicament.

"The night after the game we got everybody together and I gave them what I thought the state of play was. I was quite honest with them and quite forthright." said Hodgson, who also invited Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard to address the squad.

"I wanted the players to hear something from two senior players too.

"I thought they (Gerrard and Lampard) spoke very well because they've been in World Cups, they know what it's like to do well in them and not to do well in them."

Hodgson will ask the England medical staff whether they think Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who suffered a knee injury two weeks ago, is fit to play.

"He's making terrific progress so he is very close but whether he's close enough for us to risk putting him on the field is something I will have to check with the doctor," Hodgson said.

Hodgson can take comfort from the fact that unlike in Manaus, very English conditions are forecast on Thursday.

Showers are expected in Sao Paulo and temperature is estimated to rise no higher than 14 degrees Celsius.

"That will be nice for our Manchester and Liverpool boys won't it?" Hodgson said. "They will feel at home."

All 23 England players trained in the stadium on the night before the match.

That suggests Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who missed the Italy defeat due to a knee injury, could be included in the match day squad for the Uruguay game.

Oscar Tabarez admits the Luis Suarez that will face England will not be the same one that lit up the Premier League last season.

Suarez, scorer of 27 Premier League goals last year, will be key to Uruguay's chances of beating England.

Suarez's fitness has been a hot topic in Uruguay and England ever since he suffered a knee injury at a training camp just over four weeks before the start of the World Cup.

The Liverpool player has declared himself fit and he took part in a full training session at the Arena de Sao Paulo, but coach Tabarez refused to reveal whether the forward would start the match.

If Suarez does play, Tabarez concedes he will struggle to replicate the kind of form he showed in England after over a month out.

"We will announce who will play tomorrow and not before," Tabarez told a press conference in Sao Paulo.

"He has recovered well but if he plays we must consider the possibility that he's not as well as he was during the Premier League,"

"He has trained with his team-mates but training is not the same as a match.

"But even when not 100 per cent he is someone who can give a lot to his team. That's what we're considering right now."

Suarez was named double player of the year last season thanks to his goals, which almost brought Liverpool their first league title in 24 years.

But the 27-year-old is still not universally liked by fans of English football.

Suarez caused outrage when he bit Branislav Ivanovic's arm during Liverpool's game with Chelsea two seasons ago.

The former Ajax man was also handed an eight-match ban for racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra.

And four years ago, Suarez caused outrage when he blocked a goal-bound shot on the line in Uruguay's World Cup game against Ghana in South Africa.

Suarez was sent off but Asamoah Gyan missed the spot-kick and Uruguay progressed to the semi-finals following a penalty shootout.

But Tabarez insists dirty tricks are no longer a part of Uruguay's game.

"We have many fair play awards and this proves we have good conduct in our team," said Tabarez, who is now in his second spell as Uruguay manager.

"Remember football is played by human beings. We need humility to accept we make mistakes.

"We know who we are and the image we want to project. It's not possible to speak of things that happened four years ago. We need to concentrate in the future."

Uruguay will be without captain Diego Lugano, who has a knee injury.

Liverpool flop Sebastian Coates could replace Lugano, who was recently released by West Brom.