The 4th of July 1990. England had held West Germany to a 1-1 draw thanks to a late Gary Lineker equaliser in the World Cup semi-final in Turin. To reach the Final all they had to do was win their first ever penalty shoot-out. The shoot-out had first been introduced into a major international tournament (although it had existed at club level for a few years already) fourteen years previously, in the final of the European Championships where Czechoslovakia beat West Germany, yet the England national team had never been involved in one before. How bad could it be? Well, as Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle found out, it could be heart-breaking. Both the Nottingham Forest and the Marseille man missed their penalties which gifted the Germans, who of course didn't miss any, a 4-3 victory and sent them through to the final where they defeated Argentina.
It proved scarring, with a miserable group stage exit at Euro 92 followed by the ignominy of missing out altogether on World Cup 94, but it appeared the English had bounced back by the next time they faced a spot kick showdown. Six years since Turin, with the home advantage of Euro 96, Pearce earned redemption as he netted in a 4-2 penalty win over the Spanish following a 0-0 draw in the quarter-final at Wembley (note that this Spanish team were a shadow of the now dominant masters of tiki-taka who have triumphed in the past two major tournaments). The knowledge that England won their last penalty shoot-out unfortunately only lasted a pitiful four days before those ruthless penalty takers of Germany netted all six of their spot kicks and capitalised when centre-back Gareth Southgate couldn't convert England's sixth penalty after a 1-1 draw. Since then, there has been a psychological block of epic proportions which has seen midfielders Paul Ince and David Batty fall foul from the spot against Argentina in 1998, the mighty David Beckham and ill-selected Darius Vassell do likewise against Portugal in 2004, the experienced trio of Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher make a hash of it against those same Portuguese opponents in 2006 and now the two Ashleys, Young and Cole, failing to score against Italy in Euro 2012 to send Roy Hodgson's men crashing out of yet another tournament. Of the last ten tournaments England have qualified for, they have exited on penalties in six, meaning only four times have they exited in normal fashion (the group stage exit of Euro 92 was repeated in 2000 and there was the freak Ronaldinho goal in the 2002 World Cup quarter-final and humiliating 4-1 defeat at the hands of those pesky Germans in World Cup 2010 which both allowed for non-penalty shoot-out related exits).
This wildly disproportionate amount of penalty shoot-out exits is proving the bane of our national team. Admittedly, England were thoroughly outclassed by the Italians in the Euro 2012 quarter-final but for most teams, getting to a penalty shoot-out would offer a 50/50 chance of progression. But not England. Young and Cole are both perfectly capable of scoring penalties, the former did so for Aston Villa and the latter has netted for Chelsea in two Champions League final shoot-outs. But with the national team, they couldn't do the business when it mattered. As Hodgson has said since the latest defeat, it is impossible to prepare for the exact conditions of a penalty shoot-out as the pressure and intensity of the situation is just not one that can be recreated on the training ground. If England cannot prepare effectively for this situation, they need to aim not to find themselves in the situation again any time soon. At the World Cup in 2014 and in all future tournaments, it is vital that the team attack and show the initiative required to score goals from open play. The last two penalty shoot-out defeats have followed 0-0 draws after 120 minutes of football in which England have simply not offered enough going forward. Talents like Wayne Rooney, Gerrard and Young have all made their name as attacking players, scoring and creating goals in the Premier League for many years. But for England they seemed more than happy to sit back defending and at times it almost looked like they were doing the unthinkable and playing for a penalty shoot-out. If the psychological barrier of the penalty shoot-out cannot be overcome, then Hodgson and his successors need to ensure the Three Lions can perform at the right end of the pitch during the match itself, and not find themselves staring at another agonising spot-kick induced exit. If we find ourselves facing a shoot-out again in two years time, there won't be a single Englishman watching comfortably.
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