Gareth Southgate believes England are “mentally and physically” ready for another penalty shootout if Sunday’s World Cup last-16 clash against Senegal goes down to sudden death.
The Three Lions' spot-kick issues are well known, with all three World Cup shootouts ending in defeat before beating Colombia in the last 16 four years ago in Russia.
England followed that by winning bronze on spot-kicks at the Nations League against Switzerland in 2019, only for penalties to prove their undoing in last year’s European Championship final against Italy.
Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka failed with their attempts in a crushing loss that Southgate is confident they have learned from ahead of the World Cup knockout phase getting under way in Qatar.
“Well, like every other aspect of our game, we’re prepared and we’ve had a process that we’ve followed,” said the England boss after overseeing a final training session ahead of the Senegal clash.
“We’ve had three shoot-outs, we’ve won two, so inevitably the one that you don’t get over the line you reflect and you think about how you can improve those processes.
“We’ve done that over the last few months, in particular, but of course, there is so many other aspects to the game that we’ve got to get right.
“We’re aiming to win the game and to avoid extra time if you can, and to avoid penalties if you can, because you’d like to get a victory in 90 minutes.
“But if we need to go 120 minutes, if we need to go beyond that, then we’ve got to be ready for that mentally and physically. And I believe we are.”
Images of the England squad looking relaxed in training can be seen in the gallery above. To view the next picture, just swipe.
The results of the first round are as follows:
Qais Saied (Independent): 18.4 per cent
Nabil Karoui (Qalb Tounes): 15.58 per cent
Abdelfattah Mourou (Ennahdha party): 12.88 per cent
Abdelkarim Zbidi (two-time defence minister backed by Nidaa Tounes party): 10.7 per cent
Youssef Chahed (former prime minister, leader of Long Live Tunisia): 7.3 per cent
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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Super heroes
Iron Man
Reduced risk of dementia
Alcohol consumption could be an issue
Hulk
Cardiac disease, stroke and dementia from high heart rate
Spider-Man
Agility reduces risk of falls
Increased risk of obesity and mental health issues
Black Panther
Vegetarian diet reduces obesity
Unknown risks of potion drinking
Black Widow
Childhood traumas increase risk of mental illnesses
Thor
He's a god
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
