The World Cup is nearly upon us - which means it’s surely only a matter of time before England go crashing out of the tournament in a penalty shoot-out.
The Three Lions have lost six of their seven spot-kick showdowns over the decades - their solitary success coming against Spain at Euro 96.
If England find themselves in a penalty pickle yet again next month, the man in the middle of the sticks is likely to be Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who is expected to edge out Jack Butland as Gareth Southgate’s first choice for No. 1.
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Southgate has experienced England’s penalty pain as a player, guilty of a miss against Germany in the semi-finals of Euro 96, so it’s no surprise that the England boss has had his squad practising their spot-kick skills.
“Behind the scenes we’re doing a lot of work to get preparation for how we’d want to go about it,” said Pickford in an interview with Sky Sports. “There are a lot of good penalty takers here and we’ve been practising the last couple of days... it’s been hard to save them.”
Asked how he’s been preparing for any penalty shoot-out, Pickford explained: “It’s about how the taker’s looking at it, body language, where his shoulders or arms are... and sometimes you’ve just got to pick a side, wait and attack it.
“If you get there you get there and if you don’t, get the next one. If you save a couple, you can be a hero but there’s no pressure on you.”
Pickford said penalties are also “pot luck” - but that doesn’t explain Germany’s extraordinary record. The three-time World Cup champions have won all four of their tournament shoot-outs, and their record is almost as impressive in the Euros, with only one defeat way back in 1976, the year the system was introduced.
England, on the other hand, have the worst record of any country, and the signs aren’t promising that they are on course to emerge from their penalty purgatory. When the U21s crashed out of the European Championship semi-final last year, it was on penalties to Germany.
England’s record in penalty shoot-outs
- World Cup 1990 vs. West Germany - lost 4-3
- Euro 1996 vs. Spain - won 4-2
- Euro 1996 vs. Germany - lost 6-5
- World Cup 1998 vs. Argentina - lost 4-3
- Euro 2004 v. Portugal - lost 6-5
- World Cup 2006 vs. Portugal - lost 3-1
- Euro 2012 vs. Italy - lost 4-2
