BURNLEY'S World Cup goalkeeper Rachel Brown is ticking down the days until the Three Lions make a bid for global glory.

The England Women's ace has played a key role helping her country reach football's greatest stage - the World Cup - held in China this September.

It is three months since England celebrated an historic and joyous night in Rennes, where they held France to a 1-1 draw to rubber-stamp qualification to the finals for the first time in 12 years.

And playing a pivitol role in her country's success was Burnley-born Brown, who conceded just two goals throughout a convincing qualifying campaign.

The Everton goalkeeper has shown excellent consistency and ability between the sticks for head coach Hope Powell's side.

And England will now be looking at the 26-year-old to keep out the planet's best strikers in Asia.

But for now, Brown is gearing up for an early oriental adventure as the Three Lions jet out to Guangzhou City later this month for a friendly Four Nations Tournament.

England will be pitted against three of the best footballing nations, hosts China, USA and World Cup holders Germany, in preparation for September's main event.

Brown admits that for all the celebrations in the aftermath of that famous night in Rennes, England must knuckle down and concentrate on clinching football's greatest prize.

"After we qualified, we were on cloud nine for a couple of months," said Brown. "But we know there is a lot of hard work ahead of us.

"I'm always going to have that night in the back of my mind. It's one of those memorable nights that you don't ever want to forget.

"But we must put that night in the memory box, learn from it, and look forward to creating more memorable nights."

England are still to find out who they face in the World Cup group stages, with the draw due to take place in March.

But no matter which nations they come up against, Brown is just delighted to be taking part on the biggest of all stages.

She added: "It's a dream to be in the World Cup, it's been an ambition of mine and for everyone else.

"We are proud to get there because England have not qualified for a World Cup for 12 years.

"A lot of international players have come in and out of the England team over the last 12 years and missed out on the World Cup, so for us 20 or 30 going to China it's a big opportunity.

"The draw's not been made, but whoever we get, we will be playing nations in the top 10 and it's going to be difficult."

Brown and her England colleagues came thumping back down to earth within a month of their glory night in France, as they were handed a 5-1 friendly defeat at Germany.

They will aim to take revenge against their European rivals in two weeks time, as England compete in The China Cup at the Guandong Olympic Sports Centre.

Facing three of football's powerhouse nations, Brown sees it as ideal preparation for the World Cup and a chance to acclimitise to China's culture and conditions.

And she knows it will be tough overcoming the might of Germany, who are seen as big favourites to retain their World Cup crown.

"It's the first time I've ever known us to play in Asia," said Brown. "It's a massive tournament for us.

"The fact that we got invited is brilliant because it's a prestigious tournament. Germany and USA are the first and second in the world and China are in the top 10.

"It's always those three in the tournament plus one other country, so it's pretty cool that we are going out there.

"It's a good chance for us to see what kind of standard we need to be at, to see if we can do something at the World Cup - whether that's progressing from the groups, or getting to the semi-finals and final.

England get their China Cup campaign underway on January 26 against China before tackling the USA two days later and then Germany on January 30.