There may be trouble ahead for England...

Courier Sport looks at the dismal failures England have endured since they last won a major finals knockout match against Ecuador in 2006.

England pay the penalty against Portugal – The win over Ecuador set up a World Cup quarter-final clash with Portugal, who had knocked England out of the European Championship on penalties two years previously. History repeated itself in Gelsenkirchen in a match best remembered for Wayne Rooney’s red card and Cristiano Ronaldo winking to the Portuguese bench after he had alerted the referee to his Manchester United team-mate’s stamp on Ricardo Carvalho. A goalless 120 minutes meant another shoot-out for Sven-Goran Eriksson’s team, and missed spotkicks from Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher allowed Ronaldo to apply the killer blow to England’s so-called ‘Golden Generation’.

Battered and bruised in Bloemfontein – England failed to even qualify for Euro 2008 under Steve McClaren but returned to the World Cup in 2010 in South Africa under Fabio Capello. They could only finish second in a group famously described as ‘ EASY’ by one tabloid newspaper which meant a last-16 encounter with Germany. They were denied an equaliser just before half-time when Lampard’s effort clearly crossed the line – prompting Fifa to finally see the light on goal-line technology – but in truth Germany tore England apart and were worthy 4-1 winners.

More penalty pain – England’s build-up to Euro 2012 was hugely disturbed by manager Fabio Capello’s shock resignation over the Football Association’s decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy. Under Roy Hodgson, the team got out of their group but came up short in a quarter-final against Italy in Kiev. Supporters were fearing the worst when the match went to penalties, and sure enough England’s abysmal record in shootouts continued as Ashley Young struck the bar and Ashley Cole’s kick was saved by Gianluigi Buffon.

England freeze against Iceland – Hodgson’s team failed to reach the knockout phase of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil but did qualify for the last 16 of the Euros, where they faced tournament debutants Iceland in Nice.

Rooney had put England ahead with a fourth-minute penalty but it all fell apart in spectacular fashion two minutes later as Ragnar Sigurdsson levelled before Kolbeinn Sigthorsson put Iceland ahead in the 18th minute. There was still plenty of time for England to respond, but the players looked devoid of ideas and paralysed by fear.