ENGLAND coach Derek Fazackerley has warned that Romania pose a similar threat to Portugal as Kevin Keegan's men prepare for another make-or-break Euro 2000 clash tonight.

A draw against Romania in Charleroi will take England into the quarter-finals and a last-eight showdown with Italy.

However, defeat would see them on the plane home and Fazackerley stressed that England can't afford to take the foot off the pedal having recovered from their Portuguese upset to beat Germany on Saturday and keep their dream alive.

"You can't take anybody lightly in a tournament like this," insisted the former Blackburn Rovers stalwart.

"Romania are a very technical side like Portugal were, although possibly they haven't got the outstanding talents like Rui Costa and Figo.

"But we under-estimate them at our peril. If we did that we could come a cropper and we will guard against that.

"If we don't achieve a result all the hard work against Germany is lost, along with the satisfaction the players, staff and supporters are feeling at this moment."

Romania lost to an injury-time goal against Portugal at the weekend but will still qualify for the knock-out stages themselves if they repeat their 1998 World Cup finals win over England. Even without suspended play-maker Gheorghe Hagi they have plenty of proven international performers in the likes of Chelsea defender Dan Petrescu and former Spurs man Gheorghe Popescu, and a potentially dangerous striker in Valencia's Adrian Ilie.

However, Fazackerley is confident that England can rise to the occasion again and as well as getting the result they need, is looking for Keegan's side to send out a warning shot to the Italians and any other future opponents.

He added: "There's still work to do and this game is even bigger than the German game.

"We go in with the comfort, in one respect, that a draw would be good enough.

"But that can be a danger in itself and for morale and for the players themselves they want to win the game and improve on the performance against Germany.

"We want to send out a message that we're not only capable of winning games but capable of doing it with a bit of style.

"Game by game you want to improve bit by bit so that if you do get towards the final you've got something behind you."

Fazackerley has his sights set on a prolonged stay in Belgium and Holland.

Speaking from the England training camp, he added: "We got the result we needed against Germany and once you're into the tournament you want to stay in it for as long as possible. You can only do that by getting results."