"We will play with fire in our belly," Scolari told a press conference at the Portuguese training camp here.

"If we talk about the Portuguese fighting spirit and the English fighting spirit then you can see that we're going to have an emotional game, a tight game."

The Brazilian, who has masterminded quarterfinal wins over England in the 2002 World Cup with Brazil and Euro 2004 with Portugal, added that a win over the English would represent a career high.

"If we go through, it will be one of the best achievements of my career," he said.

In keeping with the much-played difference in coaching styles with English counterpart Sven Goran Eriksson, Scolari's most animated moment of the press conference came when asked what he would say to his players in the pre-match pep talk.

"I'm going to work with them, I'm going to tell them to enjoy it," he said.

"To enjoy playing a nice team like England, to enjoy the fact of being one of the eight best teams in the world, to enjoy being in a World Cup quarterfinal, to have fun with it, take pleasure from it -- that's the main thing we want from Saturday."

But Scolari added that a free-flowing game of football was not necessarily top of his agenda. A similar thing could be said of England, who have failed to hit top gear while progressing to the quarterfinals.

"I'm a coach who likes to have results," he said. "I can't say I want to play beautifully. England has the results in this tournament and so do we.

"Those who played beautifully are out."

Asked for the secrets behind his two previous quarterfinal wins over England, Scolari was pragmatic: "There was no main reason.

"Brazil simply scored more goals than England in 2002 and Portugal were better in the penalty shoot-outs in 2004."

Scolari put his successful coaching philosophy down to being popular with players and association officials alike.

"I think I'm a good coach and I have good results. I'm a very good friend of the people I work with.

"I'm a happy person and 99 percent of the places where I've been, people have liked me.

"In Kuwait, where I spent three years, Saudi Arabia, three years, Japan, one year, my homeland Brazil, and now Portugal, you can see for yourself that people like me."

Scolari, meanwhile, admitted that he is sweating on the fitness of key winger Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo resumed light training on Wednesday after picking up a thigh injury in the second round win over the Netherlands last weekend.

The Manchester United player caught a boot from Dutch defender Khalid Boulahrouz early in the ill-tempered 1-0 win and was replaced after 34 minutes.

He was not present during the first quarter-hour of Thursday's on-field training open to the media and also did not take part in Friday's open session.

"We don't know about Ronaldo," Scolari told a press conference at the Portuguese training camp. "We're still awaiting word on his fitness.

"I'll decide if he plays just a couple of hours before the match," said the Brazilian.

Scolari said the team would miss playmaker Deco and influential holding anchorman Costinha, out after being sent off in the win over the Netherlands, but added that he had full confidence in their replacements.

"Costinha and Deco are special players," said the coach who took Brazil to the 2002 World Cup title and Portugal to the final of Euro 2004.

"All our squad players are special," Scolari said. "Those who play in their place are also special players and we trust them."