Exclusive Column: England’s Penalty Mastery at Euro 2024
By Henry Winter, Presenter, talkSPORT
Published: 9:40, 7 Jul 2024
Updated: 9:46, 7 Jul 2024
This is a shout-out to the shoot-out specialists. It is a strange sensation watching England at penalties now. The author has sat through 11 of the 12 penalty shootouts in England’s history, and whereas in the past, he feared the inevitable defeat, now there’s almost belief they will succeed. That’s because of the ‘process’ that Gareth Southgate has embraced and enhanced, and also the proliferation of good penalty-takers he has to pick from.
The kicks from Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold were outstanding in the 5-3 shootout defeat of Switzerland here in Dusseldorf. Utterly ruthless. Toney even nailed his without looking at the ball, just psyching out the Swiss keeper, Yann Sommer.
Southgate has now led England into another major semi-final, this time at Euro 2024. Even if penalties had gone deep into sudden death, Eberechi Eze has a decent record, and Jordan Pickford would definitely have taken one. That would have left Declan Rice, John Stones, Luke Shaw and Kyle Walker, none of them great takers but they would have been involved in practising penalties after training. Just in case. England leave nothing to chance now. It’s all about the ‘process’.
No longer is it about scrabbling around for a volunteer on the day as with Southgate at Euro 96 with such painful consequences. No longer is it about England managers refusing to believe in practising penalties. Southgate has expanded the work the FA was already doing on the penalty-taking ‘process’ at St George’s Park, and England’s age-group teams now hold shootouts after friendlies with the prior agreement of the opposition.
The FA ensured that England’s age-group teams held shootouts after friendlies with the prior agreement of the opposition. Rather than fearing the penalty, England immersed themselves in them. It’s not been completely smooth since, and Southgate’s side lost the Euro 2020 final in a shootout to Italy, partly because two of the takers, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, came on in the 119th minute, hardly had time to settle and then missed. But given that England lost their previous five on the spin, the process is working.
Southgate’s chosen five were confident, and it was no surprise they converted given their astonishing records. Palmer, Bellingham, Saka, Toney and Alexander-Arnold all delivered with composure and precision, leaving the Swiss keeper helpless.
Pickford was similarly well-prepared, with a list of takers and which way to go taped on his water bottle. The goalkeeper kept to the process and saved, giving England another chance. Southgate kept referring to the process, saying “It’s my responsibility but on a night like tonight it’s the players that deliver. What I want to do is take the pressure for them. They were so composed. The whole process was really calm.”
Calm and clinical. England were prepared for this. The penalty mastery on display in the win over Switzerland has put Gareth Southgate’s side on the brink of another major final at Euro 2024, as the Three Lions continue their quest for glory.
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