Lionesses step up shoot-out preparations

Sarina Wiegman’s England have stepped up their penalty practice in training sessions over the past fortnight ahead of the European Championship, sources have told Telegraph Sport.

England are yet to win a shoot-out in a major women’s international tournament, with the Lionesses having lost twice, although they have not contested one for more than a decade.

That was a 4-3 loss against France in the quarter-finals of the 2011 World Cup, with England also having lost by the same scoreline in the final of the 1984 Euros against Sweden. The Lionesses missed three penalties awarded to them at the 2019 World Cup, including two taken by Nikita Parris and then former captain Steph Houghton’s pivotal late kick in their semi-final defeat by the United States, which was saved by Alyssa Naeher.

All England teams are understood to be following the men’s national side after they broke their World Cup shoot-out duck in 2018, although they lost the final of last summer’s men’s Euros on penalties. But some of the science and techniques deployed by Gareth Southgate’s team on penalties in the build-up to Russia 2018 have been shared around St George’s Park.

The women’s Euros gets under way at Old Trafford on Wednesday, with England taking on Austria. Georgia Stanway scored from the spot in Thursday’s final warm-up match, a 4-0 win in Switzerland, and the Manchester City midfielder is understood to have impressed in training to such a degree that she could become the team’s firstchoice penalty-taker.