Mo Marley, the England Women's U20 coach, refused to give up on a place in the knockout stages of the World Cup despite Saturday's 1-0 loss to Mexico.

The Three Lionesses must defeat Japan in their final group game and hope Nigeria and Mexico do not play out a draw.

"We're still in with a chance of sealing qualification, and against Japan we'll give it everything we've got to win and stay involved in Germany. We're going to be very focused from the off," said Marley.

"We tried to knock the ball about like we always do. Our touch was good and we moved the ball around nicely, trying to pick the right moment to attack them. But despite having more than 20 chances, we couldn't get the ball in the net.

"I'm proud of the way my players performed, but disappointed with the negative result. Something similar happened to us against Nigeria, we controlled the game but didn't finish it off. These games help the players mature and gain experience at this level."

Roberto Medina, the Mexico coach, said the result was a marker of how far his side have improved in recent years.

"We set out to win the game and we did just that. It's a very significant win for Mexico and I'm very pleased for the players, though we've not achieved anything yet. We've still got a big game against Nigeria ahead if we want to achieve our goal of reaching the quarter-finals," he said.

"England controlled the opening exchanges, but little by little we battled back and positioned ourselves well on the pitch. We managed to keep them out when they had chances and were able to catch them on the break.