2018 World Cup: Gareth Southgate puts England on penalty practice

Three Lions goalkeeper Jordan Pickford
reveals the squad are preparing for shoot-outs in Russia

One-Minute Read

The Three Lions have lost six of their seven spot-kick showdowns
over the decades – their solitary success coming against Spain at
Euro 96 – with no one quite sure why the 12 yards hold so much
terror for England’s finest.

If England do find themselves in a penalty pickle next
month, the man in the middle of the sticks is likely to be Jordan
Pickford, the Everton goalkeeper who is expected to edge out Jack
Butland as Gareth Southgate’s first choice No.1.

Southgate has experienced England’s penalty pain as a
player, guilty of a miss against Germany in the semi-finals of Euro
96, and it’s perhaps no surprise therefore 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”, which has a
degree of truth but still 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 will emerge from
their penalty purgatory anytime soon. 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