England’s third win in four penalty shoot-outs under Gareth Southgate further pushed back against the idea of spot-kicks as a “lottery”.
Five perfect penalties, and Jordan Pickford’s save from Manuel Akanji, took England past Switzerland in their Euro 2024 quarter-final and here, the PA news agency looks at their record in shoot-outs.
Trust the process
England won only one of seven shoot-outs prior to Southgate taking charge in 2016 and extensive preparation has gone into their improvement, exemplified by widely circulated pictures of Pickford’s drink bottle with detailed instructions for each potential Swiss taker.
Luke Shaw told Lions’ Den his side’s approach was “very calculated” with each player having a set routine, and singled out Declan Rice for “calming everyone down, telling everyone to do their breathing techniques and manifest it”.
Neither player took penalties against Switzerland, that responsibility falling to Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold, but their involvement indicates England’s team approach to alleviating the individual pressure associated with penalties.
In what also could have been a deliberate move, each taker appeared to be greeted by a specific team-mate after their attempt – for example Rice and John Stones were seen stepping out of England’s line to celebrate with Toney and Saka respectively while Shaw spoke to Bellingham.
“We think we’ve got a good process,” Southgate said after the match. “We’ve been in four, we’ve won three.
“Of course, we got absolutely crucified for the one we lost (to Italy in the Euro 2020 final) and that’s always going to be the case because it is outcome-based.
“We refined that process, we have more regular penalty-takers in the squad now and more that have been in shoot-outs.”
Even England squad players like Palmer and Toney are regular successful takers at club level – Palmer scored all nine of his penalties for Chelsea last season and another for England against Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Toney has scored 38 out of 41 in his career.
Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold, though not regulars from the spot, have perfect records – Alexander-Arnold’s senior penalties have all been in shoot-outs – while Saka has scored 14 of 16 and England captain Harry Kane, substituted off against Switzerland, 76 of 86.
Southgate’s shoot-outs
England set about rewriting their record starting at the 2018 World Cup with a 4-3 last-16 win over Colombia on penalties.
Kane, Marcus Rashford, Kieran Trippier and Eric Dier scored and though Jordan Henderson’s effort was saved, Pickford denied Carlos Bacca after Mateus Uribe’s miss.
Pickford himself scored England’s fifth penalty against Switzerland in the 2019 Nations League third-place play-off before saving from Josip Drmic to seal a 6-5 success. Harry Maguire, Ross Barkley, Jadon Sancho, Raheem Sterling and Dier were England’s other scorers.
Saka’s successful kick against Switzerland this weekend helped lay the ghost of England’s one, crucial, shoot-out loss under Southgate. The Arsenal forward, along with Rashford and Sancho, failed as England lost 3-2 to Italy at Wembley despite Pickford saving from Andrea Belotti and Jorginho.
Ghosts of the past
Southgate is one of the faces of England’s past penalty heartbreak, famously missing as Germany won the Euro 96 semi-final on penalties.
Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle were the fall guys against what was then West Germany at the 1990 World Cup – Pearce, like Saka, gained redemption in a Euro 96 win over Spain.
Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo denied Darius Vassell then peeled his gloves off to score the winner at Euro 2004 – before saving from Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and late substitute Jamie Carragher at the 2006 World Cup.
Paul Ince and David Batty against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup and Ashley Young and Ashley Cole against Italy in the Euro 2012 quarter-finals have also tasted spot-kick failure with England.
