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Is this really England's toughest test? After all, Belgium are ranked 28th in the world, while England are fourth. 

"Don’t be fooled by their world ranking," says England boss Mark Sampson.

"This is a Belgium team who have beaten both Norway and Denmark, and their most recent result was a 5-0 win against a strong Russia team, so they will without doubt provide our biggest challenge on home soil in recent years.

"They are a genuine rival to us achieving our aim of top spot in this group."

A real chance, then, to see just how far England have come since finishing third at last year's World Cup.

BBC Two

Flick on BBC Two or press the play icon on this page because live coverage is under way now.

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Here's an idea that I can get on board with.

Mark Sampson isn't planning to use these qualifiers as a chance to experiment with his team. Instead he is planning to make sure his strongest XI gets as much game time as possible. He has shown that in his selection tonight.

“There’s never a time to experiment with the England team,” says Sampson. “Everyone’s got to work for the chance to represent their nation."

I still shudder at the time Michael Ricketts made his one and only appearance for the England men's team back in 2002. A three-pronged attack featuring Ricketts, Emile Heskey and Darius Vassell. What a time to be alive.

I think there has been a live text commentary record mention of the words "elephant dung" in the 20 minutes I've been live tonight. 

A record, I suspect, that will never be broken.

Alex Scott went into a jungle and ate elephant dung in the name of raising the profile of women's football. 

What is the most outlandish thing you have done in the name of sport?

Let us know via #bbcfootball, external or text in on 81111 (UK only).

Staying in tonight? Then you can't beat a bit of live footie on the box and that's what we have coming up.

Tina Daheley is joined by former England internationals Kelly Smith and Rachel Brown-Finnis for build-up to the game on BBC Two from 19:30 BST.

You can also watch it all on this page, or listen to commentary from BBC Radio 5 live sports extra. An absolute smorgasbord of options or, at the very least, a decent spread.

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A final word on Alex Scott before I switch focus to tonight's game as a whole. Amazingly, eating elephant dung was not the worst thing the 31-year-old did on Mission Survive. I'll spare you the details although, for the curious, you can find out more here., external

It might have been a gruelling ordeal, but the reason Scott put herself through it all was a noble one. She wanted to raise the profile of women's football.

"I wanted to take my sport to a whole new audience," she said. "When we have an England men's player doing an appearance somewhere, why can't we have an England female player alongside them? That would start to change attitudes and the sport would be more accepted in general as well."

That profile certainly seems to be rising, with a sell-out crowd expected in Rotherham tonight.

Alex Scott has clearly recovered from her 12 days in South Africa because she starts tonight in what is a strong team named by Mark Sampson. Jill Scott, who scored the winner in England's most recent qualifier, against Bosnia, is also in the first XI.

England women XI: Bardsley, A Scott, Houghton, Stoney, Greenwood, Williams, Nobbs, Chapman, Stokes, J Scott, Duggan. Subs: Bronze, Telford, Bassett, Flaherty, Carney, Davison, Aluko.

One day after being crowned champion of Bear Grylls' television programme Mission Survive, England defender Alex Scott hooks up with her international team-mates for the Lionesses' latest Euro 2017 qualifier.

After thrashing Estonia 8-0 and then edging Bosnia 1-0, Mark Sampson's side face arguably their most difficult test in qualifying so far as they take on group leaders Belgium tonight.

Win, and England will go top of the pile. Big incentive.

Image source, Alex Scott/Twitter

Ask any manager of a football team what type of players they would like in their side and invariably "strong characters" will be high up on the list. 

Having players who are willing to give their all, who rise to a challenge and will do whatever it takes to achieve a goal can be the difference between having a team that succeeds and one that fails.

Faced with a tough Euro 2017 qualifier on a cold Friday night in Rotherham, it is fair to say England Women will need those strong characters out in force tonight.

Do they have them? Well, when you've got someone in the ranks who is willing to swim across muddy waters, climb rocky cliffs and even eat elephant dung, I think it is fair to say they probably do...

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