England and penalty shootout losses go back a long time. It all started in the Euro 96' Semi Final against Germany. On 26 June 1996 England lost the Semi-Final penalty shootout against rivals Germany after current Manager Gareth Southgate had his penalty saved and England were knocked out of the tournament.
England up until that point had a dream run at the Euros in front of their home crowd. They were undefeated in the tournament. After comfortably defeating Scotland and Netherlands in the group stage, the three lions faced Spain in the Quarterfinals and played out a goalless draw but ended up winning the Penalty shootout 4-2 after Fernando Hierro hit the bar and David Seaman saved Miguel Nadal's kick.
England hosted Germany in the Semi-Finals and Alan Shearer gave them the perfect start as he scored in the 3rd minute. Stefan Kuntz equalised after 11 minutes. The game went to extra time where the hosts dominated the play. Their best chance came when Shearer squared the ball to Paul Gascoigne who had an empty net to aim for but couldn't manage to get a touch.
In the Penalty shootout, both teams scored from their first five kicks. Gareth Southgate stepped forward and his penalty was saved by Andreas Köpke. Andreas Möller then scored the winning penalty and Germany booked a place in the final and eventually won the trophy.
Gareth Southgate's penalty still haunts England fans. This penalty shootout loss started a run of big tournaments where England got eliminated in the penalty shootout. World Cup 1998 and 2006 along with Euro 2004 and 2012 are 4 instances where England players caved under pressure. This bad luck was broken by Gareth Southgate himself when his England side won the shootout against Columbia at the 2018 World Cup. England once again play Germany in the Euro Round of 16 on Tuesday. Southgate will use his own experience to nurture his players.
Midfielder Kalvin Phillips quoted “He(Southgate) mentioned that more or less every team that’s won it have had to go through a stage in the tournament where they’ve had to go to penalties. He showed the clips of him taking penalties and other teams before that and us [England] in the World Cup. Obviously, he jokes about it now but he’s a manager that takes pride in doing the penalty shootout. He knows it’s massive in certain tournaments and this one especially. He’s spoken about it quite a lot and it’s nice to hear the experiences he’s been through. Hopefully, if we do go to penalties, we go one better.”
Marcus Rashford and Jordon Henderson have also talked about how the England manager's experience in the shootout will be very helpful if and when the occasion arises. England topped their group by beating Czech Republic and Croatia. Their stalemate draw against Scotland was a big stumble in their path as Scotland dominated the game. England have managed to score only two goals in three games but on the flip side haven't conceded a goal yet. Southgate's men will definitely fancy their chances against a German team that look far from invincible having won only one out of their three games.
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