England learning from their mistakes of Euro 1996 as Phil Foden admits he is practising the walk-up from the halfway line to take penalties after being told by Gareth Southgate that he ‘didn’t practice that routine in his head’
- England are set to face Germany in the last-16 at Wembley on Tuesday evening
- The match could go to a penalty shootout if the scores are level after extra-time
- The Three Lions have penalty pain against Germany from 1990 and 1996
- Gareth Southgate missed the decisive penalty against Germany at Euro 1996
- Phil Foden says he is practicing the walk-up to the spot as well as the kick itself
Phil Foden says that he is practicing the walk-up to the penalty spot, as England get prepared for their last-16 knockout clash with Germany.
England will face their old rivals at Wembley on Tuesday after the Three Lions topped their group, while their opponents finished second in the group of death after a late equaliser in their 2-2 draw with Hungary.
The knockout stage though is when the tournament gets serious and the match could be decided via a penalty shootout.
Phil Foden has revealed that he has started practicing the walk-up to the penalty spot
It comes after manager Gareth Southgate’s semi-final heartache back at Euro 1996
Gareth Southgate missed his spot-kick against Germany back at Euro 1996, sending England out of the competition while their opponents that day went on to win the tournament.
And Foden has revealed that he is practicing the walk-up to the spot, after hearing Southgate talk about his decisive miss in 1996.
In an interview with BBC Sport, Foden joked: ‘He’s (Southgate) not going to bring that up is he?
‘To be honest I remember him actually saying when he went up to take it the keeper kicked the ball away and he didn’t really practice that routine in his head.
‘So I’ve been practicing walking from the half-way line to take the penalties so when it comes to the game it feels comfortable for you.’
Foden though said he is confident to take the penalty if needed and added that he doesn’t believe scoring from the spot is about ‘luck’.
He said: ‘People say it’s luck but I don’t believe in that. If you practice your penalty and know where you’re putting it before you can get an advantage going into it.’
England are set to face Germany on Tuesday and the match could go to a penalty shootout
The memories of penalty shootouts at Italia 90 and Euro 96 are painful ones for England fans, with the Three Lions falling to semi-final shoot-out defeats against Germany on both occasions.
Gareth Southgate though has put his penalty pain behind him and has improved England remove their penalty shootout complex since he became manager.
The Three Lions have taken penalty shootout wins over both Colombia and Switzerland under Southgate.