Shootout misery blown away by England
FOOTBALL: Gareth Southgate will never get over his own penalty miss 22 years ago but has ensured his young charges won’t be daunted by history, with England finally laying to rest its World Cup shootout curse.
“It was a night when I just knew we were going to get over the line,” the coach told reporters after England had to mentally recover from a 94thminute equaliser by Colombia and coming from behind in the shootout before reaching the quarter-finals.
“We had the resilience and belief to get over the line.”
Appointed in 2016, Southgate has resolved to shut out years of failure.
“We’ve talked to the players about them writing their own stories and tonight was the classic – they don’t have to conform to what’s gone,” he said.
Southgate had spoken in the past of how a shambolic set-up left him walking with inexperienced dread to take what would be the final penalty, which he patted into the goalkeeper’s arms, in a Euro 96 semi-final at Wembley against Germany.
Determined to avoid such horrors, he and his staff have forced England’s players to “practise and practise” the penalty routine.
Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford had been drilled thoroughly briefed on every Colombian penalty taker – and remembered his lessons. And every England player knew the order they would shoot in.
“We had total belief in what we were doing right through to the end,” Southgate said.
Even when England’s third penalty was saved, Southgate believed, despite being aware the national team had lost all three of its previous World Cup penalty shootouts.
But for the 47-year-old, who played for England 57 times, the memory of his own shootout failure remains vivid.
“It will never be off my back, sadly,” Southgate said. “That’s something that will live with me forever.”