The challenge of a penalty shootout
England have made history in reaching the second consecutive final of the European championship, the third if we include the Lionesses’ historic victory in 2022. The Three Lions were disappointed to have lost to Italy at the last competition after a dramatic penalty shootout, something that England fans are all too familiar with.
However, under Gareth Southgate, that was the one and only shootout that England have lost, having defeated Colombia in the last 16 of the 2018 World Cup, and Switzerland, both in the Nations League and the 2024 Euros. Southgate’s record therefore speaks for itself.
Let’s go back to that final at Wembley in 2021, where Italy made history. By winning the shootout, they became the first nation in the history of the Euros to win multiple penalty shootouts in a single competition, having already beaten Spain in the semi-final. In 2021, Spain had beaten Switzerland on spot kicks, with the Swiss having reached that stage with a shootout victory over then world champions France. This Sunday, England will face Spain, the same team Italy defeated in the semi-final.
At the World Cup, many will remember Costa Rica’s Cinderella run in 2014. Los Ticos had seen off Greece in the round of 16 on penalties before losing to the Netherlands in the quarter final in a shootout. The Dutch would fall short of a Messi-led Argentina at the semi-final on spot-kicks.
Argentina is one of just two nations to have won multiple penalty shootouts in the same World Cup. In 1990, the then reigning world champions had beaten Yugoslavia in the quarter finals before winning over hosts Italy in a semi-final in Naples in the same manner. The other country to have achieved that is Croatia, doing so in 2018 and 2022 including a win over Brazil in Qatar.
Whether nerves finally get the better of players or your opponents gain an advantage in seeing every player’s preferred placement, its clear that a second penalty shootout is even more of a challenge than the first. But we’re sure that Southgate and the Three Lions can do it.
Image: Oleg Bkhambri (Voltmetro)
