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England batsman Paul Collingwood said his side would be fully focused on victory against Kenya in their must-win group C game in St Lucia on Saturday. 
The winners will qualify for the Super 8s with New Zealand, while a washout would put England through on run rate.
Kenya are one of cricket's minnows but Collingwood insists England will treat them with respect.
"They are a potential banana skin but we have to try to put that out of our minds," said Collingwood.
"Once you start thinking like that it can cause you trouble.
"It's a must-win game and we've done as much preparation as possible off the pitch, looking at the laptops and looking at their bowling actions and we've spoken to a couple of the Kiwi guys about them."
Andrew Flintoff returns to the side on Saturday, when many cricket fans will still have ther murder of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer uppermost in their minds.
The all-rounder was stripped of the vice-captaincy and dropped for the Canada match after his involvement in last week's drinking antics.
Jamie Dalrymple's spin-bowling has been ineffective and his place is under threat. He is likely to be dropped so that all-rounder Ravi Bopara can win a third cap.
Bopara is more likely than Dalrymple to bowl his allocation of overs, with his medium pace well suited to the St Lucia wicket.
England have endured a shaky start to the World Cup, falling to defeat by New Zealand, followed by a the late-night drinking scandal and an unconvincing win over Canada.
England skipper Michael Vaughan also missed training after twisting his knee on a pothole on Tuesday but is expected to be 100% fit to face Kenya.
Collingwood was the on-field captain for a short period in the World Cup warm-ups when Vaughan and Flintoff were resting, and the 30-year-old would be willing to take over again if Vaughan's recent injury jinx returns.
"The most important thing is that Michael Vaughan is 100% fit, which is great, but if the vice-captaincy job came up I would be more than happy to do it," Collingwood said.
"I'm not sure whether they will announce anybody, they will probably wait until Michael misses a game or has to go off the pitch and make a decision then depending on who is in the team."
Meanwhile, senior Kenya batsman Ravindu Shah believes Kenya have what it takes to cause a shock.
Kenya lost heavily to New Zealand but beat Canada in their first match in Group C.
"As a realistic scenario for us, we're looking forward to a good game and coming out with a win," said Shah.
"We have had one bad game so far and that was against New Zealand, so hopefully that's out of the way and we're up for Saturday's game."
Shah was Kenya's highest scorer in 2003, when the East African side grabbed a World Cup semi-final place.
They have played little against top-class opposition since but Shah has been impressed as the side won the World Cricket League for associate nations and pushed West Indies in a warm-up game.
"Over the last six weeks, the top seven batsmen have all scored runs and the bowlers have done well," Shah told BBC Sport.
"We beat Netherlands in our second warm-up game comfortably and Canada in the end looked a fairly easy victory.
"We feel we have everything to gain and nothing to lose at this stage."
If they progress, England will start the Super 8s against Ireland in Guyana on 30 March. The seven-week World Cup culminates in the Barbados final on 28 April.
England (from): Michael Vaughan (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Paul Collingwood, Jamie Dalrymple, Andrew Flintoff Ed Joyce Jon Lewis Sajid Mahmood Paul Nixon Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Andrew Strauss.
Kenya (from): Steve Tikolo (captain), Thomas Odoyo (vice-captain), Ravindu Shah, Tanmay Mishra, Collins Obuya, Peter Ongondo, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Morris Ouma, Malhar Patel, Hiren Varaiya, David Obuya, Rajesh Bhudia, Jimmy Kamande, Tony Suji, Lameck Onyango.
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