Netherlands winger believes his side have yet to hit top form in South Africa and is in bullish mood ahead of Friday's quarter-final with Brazil in Port Elizabeth.
The Oranje have won all four of their World Cup games in South Africa, but have still received criticism from the media at home for failing to reproduce the scintillating brand of football that saw them thrash Italy and France at Euro 2008.
But while Elia admits that the Dutch have yet to set the finals alight, he is confident that playing five-time winners Brazil will bring the best out of his team-mates.
"We can play a lot better than we have," Elia told FIFA.com. "We've been getting the results, but we've not yet shown the kind of team we are and the kind of football we can play."
"We've been controlling all the matches, but I think we can still get a lot better and I am sure we will."
Elia, 23, is confident that he can play some part against Brazil after coming off the bench in each of Netherlands' games so far. He said: "I feel like I have been doing a pretty good job when I get on the pitch and I want to stay hungry and keep going."
And the Ajax youth product, now plying his trade with Bundelsiga side Hamburg, is not daunted at the prospect of facing one of the tournament favourites, Brazil, and says that Netherlands will approach the game like any other.
"When we came here to South Africa we only had one thing in our minds: to reach the final," he said. "We're not worried about Brazil or any other opponent because we just need to play our game."
"We came to South Africa to become world champions and we're going to do everything we can to make it happen."
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