There is mutiny in the air. The first 10 days of this World Cup have been marked by a complete disregard for reputation.

What's cooking? Slovenia forward Tim Matavz jokes with teammates during a training session in Johannesburg

Spain, France and Germany have all been left to rue the overthrow of the established order. New England can be added to the list of teams who find their fear factor in ruins.

"Who are we afraid of from England? Nobody," said the Slovenian captain, Robert Koren, whose side need only a point against Fabio Capello's side in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday to all but eliminate them at the first hurdle for the first time since 1958.

What about all of those household names, though? Koren, released by West Bromwich Albion after helping them to promotion to the Premier League, is by far the biggest star available to his tiny nation, which boasts just two million people and which only obtained independence in 1991.

The rest of Matjaz Kek's squad is made up of journeymen from Europe's minor leagues. They should not be much of a match for Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, John Terry and Wayne Rooney, the leading lights of the most high-profile league on the planet, especially now their striker Nejc Pecnik has been ruled out of the rest of the World Cup with a broken ankle.

"Rooney? What did he do in the first game? Nothing," said Koren. "We have defenders like Bostjan Cesar and Bojan Jokic and players like Milivoje Novakovic, so [we have nothing to be afraid of]. We are not thinking about England's players. We have a great team spirit, so we will not be thinking about Gerrard or anyone else, or being underdogs."

Though their attitude, their gusto, has helped, it would be disingenuous in the extreme to apportion all credit to Slovenia's position on top of Group C with one game to go to mere pluck. As they showed against the United States in particular, they are technically adept, compact in defence and, in Koren and Valter Birsa, boast imagination and ingenuity on the break.

Therein lies the danger. "We played very fast football against the United States," said the defender Matej Mavric. "Maybe people underestimated us before the tournament started. England are still the favourites, the strongest team in the group, but we have shown we know how to play good football."

England, of course, have not. Not yet. Little wonder Slovenia are so confident of qualification, a feat Mavric believes would be the greatest sporting achievement in the young nation's history. Slovenia stand at the final hurdle, and its size is diminishing all the time.