The story of Gabrielle Onguene and the water bottle reveals the chaos theory attached to Cameroon, England's round of 16 World Cup opponents on Sunday.

Onguene seemed to have asked the Holland bench to provide her with some water towards the end of a 3-1 group-stage defeat. The request was — not unreasonably — refused and when one of the Dutch players had second thoughts and obliged, the Cameroonian tossed the bottle on to the pitch, seemingly incensed by the initial reaction.

The 30-year-old is the biggest threat to England by a considerable distance, with rapier pace and a huge competitive instinct complemented in the past few weeks by raw emotion. Her mentor, the Cameroonian former captain and coach Ghislaine Bebom, died at the start of the tournament.

On the field, the world's 46th-ranked nation bring a raw, high energy which makes comparison with the 1990 men's World Cup team an appropriate one. Unpredictable was the word Holland coach Sarina Wiegman used to describe them.

But there is not really much of a secret about the team — whose 2-1 win over New Zealand, England's conquerors in the warm-up games, saw them progress as one of the best third-placed teams.

Cameroon sit deep and smash long balls to exploit Onguene's pace down either flank on the counter attack.

Onguene (right) will look to get in behind England's backline with her rapid pace on Sunday

This can be a threat and it will mean Demi Stokes or Alex Greenwood need to be at the top of their game. The Dutch full back Desiree van Lunteren struggled with the speed of Onguene, a CSKA Moscow player, who scored against Holland and the Kiwis en route to the knockout stages.

Ajara Nchout is the other stand-out player and was excellent against New Zealand. But England have grounds to feel confident that they can breach a defence prone to errors of comic proportions. The side, managed by Alain Djeumfa, are particularly vulnerable to set-pieces, with defenders clustered on the goal-line, allowing headers to go unchallenged from corners.

England's 5ft 11in Jill Scott — 'Crouchy' to her team-mates — should make hay.

But Cameroon may be the better supported side in Valenciennes. The French African migrant population turned out in droves to roar them on in Paris.