Ordeal or no ordeal. England right to prepare for pens.
But no 120th-minute subs please.
In the angry aftermath of England’s shootout defeat to Italy in the final of Euro 2020, there was talk amongst certain relatives of the squad as to whether Gareth Southgate should have sent Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho on earlier, rather than in the 120th minute, and actually given them time to prepare for the ordeal from 12 yards. Rashford and Sancho came on cold and, shortly after, missed their penalties.
It’s a legitimate concern, one expressed to me by a family member, and worth bearing in mind as England enter the knockout stage of a tournament with Sunday’s round-of-16 tie against Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen. Neither Rashford not Sancho are here in Germany but the lesson learned is.
In Southgate’s defence he felt he was bringing on players with sound techniques who’d both found the mark in their previous shoot-outs for England (Rashford in the 2018 World Cup against Colombia and Sancho in the 2019 Nations League semi-final against Switzerland). Both have taken penalties for their clubs.
When Southgate himself missed at Euro 96, Terry Venables was criticised for not using any of his subs at any point. Robbie Fowler, a decent penalty-taker, could have made a difference. Venables did bring him on late on in the quarter-final against Spain, but Fowler was eventually not required to take a penalty.
At Wembley at Euro 2020, there were concerns that two young players might need longer to acclimatise. Rashford was 23, and effectively filled in at right-back when coming on. Was he ready for the pressure of a penalty? Sancho was only 21. He hardly had a touch before being presented with the most daunting football test of his life. Further more in Southgate’s defence, England’s manager sent Bukayo Saka on after 70 minutes and the winger also failed to convert.
The subsequent narrative was engulfed by the shocking racist abuse launched at Rashford, Sancho and Saka. I got shown some of the DMs sent to players, even worse than the tweets most could see, and those were toxic. Sane people admired Rashford, Sancho and Saka, even more after knowing what they had to endure.