Since the beginning of the 1990s, the England soccer team has been involved in numerous penalty shoot-outs. In both the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championships, England has been eliminated in the knockout stages a few times after drawing games and then losing on penalties. These are the England games that have gone to penalty shoot-outs.
At Italia ’90, England was having one of their best World Cups after a 3-2 win against Cameroon ensured their place in the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, they would come up against the Germans, who went a goal up in the game. However, Gary Lineker’s equalizer ensured that the game went into extra time.
During this period, England came close to scoring, with one of their shots hitting the post and rebounding out from the goal line. However, as neither team could score during this period, the match went to penalties. During the shoot-out, the Germans did not miss, while two English players, Chris Waddle and Stuart Pearce, failed to convert the spot kicks. Germany won the game and went on to win the 1990 World Cup.
After thrashing Holland 4 -1, England was optimistic against Spain. However, the Spanish were not pushovers and were perhaps a little unlucky not to score in this game. The English held out, and the game ended 0-0. This game is one of the few that England has won on penalties, thanks to David Seaman’s save, which ensured their place in the semi-finals against Germany.
They say lightning does not strike twice, but it does when it comes to England vs Germany games, as they played a second semi-final against each other at Euro 96. Although Alan Shearer put them in front, they could not hold the lead, and Germany equalized. The game remained level at 1-1 for the remainder of the 90 minutes, and so went to extra time.
In extra time, neither team could score again, so, as in Italia ’90, penalties decided the semi-final. England converted their first five penalties, but so too did Germany. In the sudden death penalties that followed, Gareth Southgate missed his, which ensured victory for the Germans.
England played Argentina in the 1998 World Cup second round in what was an enthralling match. Michael Owen’s fantastic goal was one of the highlights, but it was not enough to win the game. David Beckham was also sent off during the match. The game ended as England 2, Argentina 2. During the penalty shoot-out, England fired blanks, and so Argentina progressed into the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
The quarter-final between England and Portugal in Euro 2004 was one in which England took an early lead. They held this until some way into the second half, but in the last 10 minutes, Portugal equalized to take the game into extra time.
In extra time, Portugal went ahead, but England equalized minutes later. The English also scored a third goal, but this was disallowed by the referee. The game went to penalties, with both teams missing one of their first five spot-kicks. In the sudden death penalties, Darius Vassell missed his penalty, and the Three Lions crashed out of Euro 2004.
Lightning does indeed strike twice when it comes to England and penalty shoot-outs, as the same teams and managers met again at the same quarter-final stage of the 2006 World Cup. The Wayne Rooney red card left them to play with 10 men, although they held out to keep the score at 0-0. This game also went to penalties, and, as you may have guessed, England lost the shoot-out.
The Three Lions played the Azzuri in the 2012 European Championship. Italy dominated this match after half-time but could not score against England. The match ended 0-0, but Italy secured a deserved victory by winning the penalty shoot-out 4-2.
England finally broke their penalty shoot-out jinx in this 2018 World Cup clash against Colombia. Harry Kane scored a penalty in the second half to put them ahead. However, Colombia scored a late injury-time equalizer. The match ended 1-1 after extra time, but England prevailed 4-3 in the penalty shoot-out.
The Three Lions won another penalty shoot-out in the Euro 2024 quarter-final clash against Switzerland. It was quite an even match throughout, but Breel Embolo put the Swiss ahead with a 75th-minute goal. Bukayo Saka equalized for England about five minutes later to make the score 1-1, which was the final result. The English scored all five of their penalties to emerge victorious in the penalty shoot-out.
England’s overall record in World Cup and European Championship penalty shoot-outs is: won three, lost six. That’s not a great record, and they have still not won a major trophy since 1966, primarily because of penalties. The Three Lions have done better in penalty shoot-outs in recent years, but this has not been enough to secure silverware.
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