ENGLAND'S WORLD CUP 2022 PENALTY-TAKERS: WHO SHOULD BE SELECTED?
ENGLAND'S WORLD CUP 2022 PENALTY-TAKERS: WHO SHOULD BE SELECTED?
By Rashmi Goel
As England prepares for its World Cup quarter-final clash with France this weekend, there will be one thing at the back of their minds as they prepare for their last-16 match against Senegal. There are penalties. There will be plenty of heartbreaks from 12 yards for the Three Lions this time around for the same reason that World Cup 2006, Euro 2004, France '98, Euro '96, and Italia '90 were also heartbreaking spot-kick ends for the Three Lions, but hopefully, this time will be different. In order to find out who should take over after 120 minutes, here is a list of some numbers to figure out who should step up.
Bukayo Saka
Many teams seem to be adopting the practice of saving the strongest taker until the end of the game since it is often effectively a sudden death penalty if the strongest taker is saved until the end. During this year's League and FA Cup finals, Jorginho waited until the end for Italy at Euro 2020. During the Africa Cup of Nations, Sadio Mane won on the fifth kick. Nevertheless, you could be eliminated before your best shooter can arrive. Mohamed Salah had the same experience in that same Cup of Nations final. However, even if they are able to take the test, there is obviously no guarantee that they will succeed. As Salah was off the field at the conclusion of this year's FA Cup final, Mane missed the fifth penalty kick.
The fact that Kane is at one here suggests that Southgate prefers to put his best forward first. The five penalty-takers he has presided over in three shootouts have been Eric Dier, Jordan Pickford, and Saka. In his four career penalties, the Arsenal winger has missed just one, but it is the only one of those three that he has failed to convert. This was also the first time in his senior career that he had stepped up to play the spot, either in regular play or in shootouts. Despite missing, his record at the club level since taking penalty shots shows why Southgate trusted him in the first place. It is unlikely that some players will ever put themselves forward again. This was done by Saka. As a result of the 20-year-old's character and maturity beyond his years, Southgate is a great admirer of him.
Harry Maguire
The 26-year-old has never taken a penalty in regular practice, but, for some strange reason, no player in the squad has taken more penalties in shootouts than Harry Maguire has. There is no doubt that a lot of his sense of responsibility can be attributed to his time spent in the third tier with Sheffield United and battling his way through the early rounds of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, as it was at the time. The Manchester United captain has a little bit of a mixed record from the spot - six goals scored and three misses - but the most recent of those misses came seven years ago; in a League Cup first-round tie away at Accrington Stanley. A lot has changed in the years since then and there is now enough evidence to suggest that Maguire is one of the best penalty-takers in the game today.