Mills refuses to be intimidated by reputation of Roberto Carlos

In terms of potential collisions, it would be an equivalent impact to two Nozomi – the 170mph Shinkansen bullet trains which scorch the tracks between here and Tokyo – meeting head on. Except this is the meeting of the bullet heads: Roberto Carlos, who in many judges' estimation encapsulates the world's most complete left-sided attacking defender and is the bearer of more than 90 Brazilian caps, and Danny Mills, who back in January, after he had hacked crudely at the legs of Newcastle's Craig Bellamy at St James' Park and was summarily dismissed, appeared to have as much chance of appearing at this World Cup as the Scotland squad.

Brazil would not be here without the 29-year-old Roberto Carlos, with his surging forays down the flank and accurate crossing; England have, in truth, only accommodated "Satanic" Mills, four years the Brazilian's junior and better known before this tournament for his disciplinary indiscretions than his attacking attributes, because of Gary Neville's injury and Wes Brown's loss of form. Yet you would not describe the Leeds defender's demeanour as he prepares for the quarter-final at Shizuoka on Friday as one of trepidation.

Indeed, far from attending the Brazil-Belgium contest at Kobe's Wing Stadium on Monday night to carry out a precise inspection of his rival, Mills conducted his analysis of England's next opponents, Brazil, sporadically and from an unusual perspective. On his belly.

Mills, who has defied his detractors with increasingly authoritative performances, explained after training yesterday: "It was an optional thing [whether to attend or not]. It had been a long day. I just felt that it was better to stay behind and rest up. I was getting massaged at the time, so what bits I saw on the TV just depended on the angle my head was at. Anyway, I'm not a massive watcher of football unless it affects me directly. Had we not been playing one of the teams, I wouldn't have watched any of it."

There is a rationale to Mills' apparent insouciance. What it amounts to is to allow the opposition – yes, even Brazil, the four-times world champions – to concern themselves with the virtues of your team. Do not let the mere name and reputation of a nation, or individuals like Roberto Carlos, psyche you out to a point of nervous disorder.

The Brazilian's venomous free-kicks, for example, are regarded as almost a sacred act, to be venerated by all football worshippers. His 40-yarder against the hosts in the Tournoi de France in 1997 can be regarded as such. Against Belgium, the crowd hand-clapped the Real Madrid defender's approach to the ball as they might an Olympic long jumper his approach. Yet, his goal against China – the first of Brazil's four that day – was also his first for his country since that free kick five years ago.

The defending of the one-time Palmeiras and Internazionale player is also, dare one say it (well, certainly do not mention it to the Rio de Janeiro fans who named him the player that could not be left out of the Brazil team, ahead of Cafu, Rivaldo and Ronaldo) found wanting on occasions.

Hence Mills prefers to describe Roberto Carlos, whom he encountered in Leeds' Champions' League season, simply as "just one player of a team". He added: "It will be just one of several individual battles. If he gets through me, then hopefully he'll have Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell to get past. If he gets past them, he'll then have David Seaman to beat. We've all got to help each other out. There's going to be times when, with the skills the Brazilians have, you're going to get beaten sometimes and we're all going to need each other out there.

"They've got fantastic individuals throughout the whole squad. But we'll go out there and hopefully impose ourselves on them. Get at them, shut them down, take the game to them, put a lot of pressure on them, as the Belgians did. If we do that, we know we can be more than a match for them. Brazil are beatable."

It was put to Mills that something must have encouraged him to leap up off the massage table in admiration. Rivaldo's goal, perhaps? "Obviously, it was a great goal of individual brilliance," he said. "It shows you can't switch off for one second against anybody. Equally we've got players who can do exactly the same."

Mills added: "I played in the home game against Real Madrid [which Leeds lost 2-0] and that night we got a bit of a lesson in football to be honest, as we did when we went to Barcelona. But you've got to learn from those experiences."

What makes the confrontation all the more intriguing is that Roberto Carlos and Mills are on one caution apiece. Another will mean they would miss a semi-final. "It happens in football. There's nothing you can do about it," the former Charlton and Norwich player said. "You've got to go out there and play exactly the same way. The important thing is to concentrate on winning the game."

The Leeds man earned his yellow when falling into Denmark's Rene Henriksen, and accidentally catching him with a fist in the side of the head. "Typical Mills" was the typical reaction from some head-shaking members of the viewing English media. "I wouldn't expect anything less," he said wryly when told of that response.

The Danes responded with some ire to the incident and it took England players, led by David Beckham, to defuse the situation. "I just collided with the fellow," Mills explained. "There was no way I was going to react once I was on the floor, getting dragged about or whatever. But full credit to the rest of the lads; they came in and broke it up before the situation got worse."

Hopefully, it will be the purer side of Mills' game that the world and Roberto Carlos will observe on Friday in this country where they admire a 10th dan; not a desperate one.

HEAD TO HEAD: DANNY MILLS V ROBERTO CARLOS

DANNY MILLS

Born: 18 May 1977

1994: Started career with Norwich City

1998: Moved to Charlton (£300,000)

1999: Moved to Leeds (£4.37m)

International career: 14 England Under-21 caps, 11 senior caps (debut as substitute against Mexico, May 2001); no goals

ROBERTO CARLOS

Born: 10 April 1973

1989: Began career as forward at Uniao São Joao

1993: Moved to Palmeiras

1995: Moved to Internazionale (£4.3m)

1996: Moved to Real Madrid

International career: First represented Brazil at 18 in 1992 Olympic qualifying tournament. 88 caps, 7 goals