World Cup: England's penalty shoot-out win over Colombia sees confidence and planning erase mental demons

Photo: Jordan Pickford got his left hand to Carlos Bacca's penalty and wrote his name in English football history. (AP: Matthias Schrader)

Pearce. Southgate. Ince. Batty. Lampard. Gerrard. Carragher.

The names of those who have contributed to England's torrid history of penalty shoot-outs are etched in a miserable folklore. For some, like Stuart Pearce and Gareth Southgate, those misses unfortunately came to define their playing careers in many ways.
So much has gone wrong throughout England's 52-year trophy drought, from administrational, managerial and developmental levels right down to the individual on-field errors themselves, but the weight of the penalty shoot-out has always been heavier than all of those put together.
Good England teams, maybe even great England teams, had tried and failed to overcome these purely mental barriers. Players who would take and score pens for their clubs all winter long would reach the spot in a summertime tournament and their usual confidence would dissipate entirely.

Photo: Paul Gascoigne was deemed to be in no mental state to even take a penalty at Italia 90. (AP: Roberto Pfeil)

Some will tell you penalty shoot-outs come completely down to pot luck, and that there is no science behind England's poor record — three out of three losses at World Cups before Tuesday night, and two out three at European Championships.
Those people are wrong. For most players, taking penalties are a combination of about 30 per cent technique and 70 per cent confidence and mental resilience — for an England player, that ratio probably gets amplified to 15:85.
With every shoot-out loss, as the line of succession moved from Pearce to Southgate to Carragher, the pressure on English penalty-takers has ramped to the point of being smothering.
Miss, and you are the latest in a long line of failures, the wrapped and delivered scapegoat who will have to carry that stone behind them until retirement and beyond. It's a burden no England team has been able to overcome.

Photo: Harry Kane has taken four penalties in Russia, and each one has been excellently put away. (AP: Antonio Calanni)

But, as we keep being told and are rapidly learning, Gareth Southgate's England of 2018 is different.
Two crucial factors saw England overcome its spot-kick hoodoo to reach the last eight in Russia — the untainted confidence of youth, and meticulous preparation.
Harry Kane, Kieran Trippier and Marcus Rashford all hit sensational, assured penalties that belied their youth and relative international inexperience. Eric Dier's winning spot kick was slightly less convincing, but successful all the same.
Then there's Jordan Pickford, a 24-year-old goalkeeper who himself says he lives for the big moments, and the big saves.
Pickford had taken inexplicable heat from the British press after Belgium's 1-0 win, with some claiming he ought to have done more to stop Adnan Januzaj's curling effort. They said he was too short, too shaky, and ought to be dropped.

Photo: This victory, and what it represents, is the sort of win that could propel England deep into the tournament. (AP: Ricardo Mazalan)

The man himself was having none of it.

"I've got power and agility. I don't care if I'm not the biggest keeper, I've got the power and agility to help me get to the ball and it's about getting there, making the save and being in the moment," Pickford said after the game.

Instead of picturing the negative headlines, the strong likelihood it would be he the pundits would turn their angst to, he remained confident in himself. He wanted the responsibility.
Perhaps some of the reason for the confidence these young English players have shown all tournament comes from the second crucial factor mentioned — Southgate prepared his team for this moment, right down to the finest detail.

Photo: Gareth Southgate has given his young squad the belief to go where no England side has gone for decades. (AP: Matthias Schrader)

They practised penalties over and over again. The players stood on the halfway line at training and made the long walk to the spot to replicate match conditions as much as possible. Pickford and the goalkeeping coaches studied the Colombians and the directions they generally went from the spot.
Southgate's plan was to limit how many people spoke to the English players before the shoot-out, to keep their minds clear. He wanted "calmness", "clarity", and for his players to "own the process".
And they did. Former England players cried tears normally reserved for final victories, knowing the hoodoo they had succumbed to would no longer hang heavy over an England team.
Now finally, belatedly, the names of Pearce, Southgate, Batty and Carragher have been removed from the darkest corners of England's psyche, replaced by Kane, Trippier, Dier, Rashford, Pickford and the promise of a bright future.