How are England shaping up for penalties ahead of the Qatar World Cup after Euro 2020 heartbreak? 

As Gianluigi Donnarumma dived to his left to parry away Bukayo Saka’s decisive penalty at Euro 2020, England hearts broke.

Having been so close to ending their 55-year wait for a major trophy, there was the familiar agony of defeat in a penalty shootout at a major tournament for the Three Lions.

It was an even more cruel end for Saka – a player who had shone so brightly in the tournament and demonstrated his supreme talent on the international stage. 

The 3-2 defeat on penalties to Roberto Mancini’s Italy side at the Euro 2020 final again brought the feeling of dread to the nation with spot kicks continuing to haunt the Three Lions. 

With England heading into Qatar and hopeful of progress despite struggling over recent international breaks, there is a sense of anxiety among fans at the prospect of a potential penalty shootout this winter. 

Sportsmail takes a look below at how England are shaping up for penalties ahead of the World Cup?

What is England’s penalty shootout record in major tournaments? 

Last summer’s Wembley heartbreak came after Harry Kane and Harry Maguire had put England 2-1 up in the penalty shootout.

Jordan Pickford pulled off saves from Andrea Belotti and Jorginho, before three successive misses from Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Saka sealed England’s fate.

Unsurprisingly, England’s record in shootouts isn’t great – with two wins and seven defeats in nine shootouts across the World Cup and European Championships. 

In the World Cup, England have won one out of four, with that famous 4-3 win against Colombia in the Round of 16 in Russia in 2018 secured by Eric Dier.

However, they experienced significant heartbreak previously, losing 4-3 to Germany in 1990, 4-3 to Argentina in 1998, and 3-1 to Portugal in 2006.

The Three Lions haven’t fared much better in the Euros, with one win out of five. 

They were successful in Euro 1996 – beating Spain 4-2 in the quarter-finals, before a heartbreaking 6-5 defeat in the semi-finals to Germany, with Gareth Southgate missing the decisive penalty.

They suffered further heartbreak at the hands of the Portuguese in 2004, losing 6-5, before defeat to Italy at Euro 2012, in a game remembered for Andrea Pirlo’s panenka to Joe Hart.

The Three Lions can however take solace from a Nations League shootout victory over Switzerland at the finals in 2019, with England emerging victorious 6-5.  

Who are England’s potential penalty takers and what are their records (outside of shootouts)? 

Harry Kane is no doubt England’s undisputed penalty taker, emphasised by his emphatic finish in last month’s Nations League draw with Germany when he powered the ball into the top left corner.

His former Tottenham teammate and Belgium defender Jan Vertonghen even went as far to label him ‘the best penalty taker in the world’ last season.

In 19 penalties for England, Kane, who has 51 goals for the Three Lions in just 75 caps, has scored 16, failing to convert three.

Throughout his career, Kane has scored 56 penalties from 66 attempts, an 85 per cent conversion rate.

Before his miss earlier this season for Spurs against Nottingham Forest, which was ironically saved by England teammate Dean Henderson, he had scored 14 Premier League spot kicks in a row.

He has since bounced back with the aformentioned clinical penalty against Germany and Kane also scored one for Spurs in their north London derby defeat to Arsenal.

However, after netting a first half penalty in Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Eintracht Frankfurt, he then missed an injury time spot kick by uncharacteristically blasting over, to halt his good form from 12 yards. 

Of other potential penalty takers within Gareth Southgate’s final squad, Raheem Sterling has scored one out of one for the Three Lions – during a 1-0 Nations League win over Iceland in 2020.

Marcus Rashford, who has started the season in fine form for Manchester United, but hasn’t featured for the Southgate’s side since the Euro 2020 final more than a year ago, has scored three England penalties from three.

He has also netted 12 out of 14 penalties in senior football, but has since slipped down the spot kick pecking order at United behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Anthony Martial.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin also has scored one penalty from one for England, but his struggle with injuries over the past year are likely to put pay to his World Cup hopes.

James Ward-Prowse and Jordan Henderson are the only other two players likely to be in Southgate’s discussions for his final squad to have taken a penalty for England in normal time. However, both missed their only chances.

Is there anyone else who could step up? 

The player on everyone’s lips is Brentford forward Ivan Toney who was called-up by Gareth Southgate for the very first time during the last international break after a fine start to the season for Brentford.

The former Northampton Town youngster failed to feature but his penalty record is something that could give him the edge over other back-up strikers to Kane such as Ollie Watkins, Callum Wilson, Dominic Calvert-Lewin or Tammy Abraham, although it is believed Abraham is currently second choice.

Toney’s record from 12 yards is nothing short of spectacular, with the striker having scored 19 out of 19 since joining the Bees in 2020. 

He has netted 24 out of 25 senior penalties, with his only miss being for Peterborough during their 4-0 defeat to Barnsley in October 6 2018, meaning Toney has gone more than four years without missing. 

Toney’s unique one-step technique has also been praised, with Brentford boss Thomas Frank particularly impressed and urging Southgate not to leave the forward at home this winter. 

Following his star striker’s hat-trick against Leeds earlier this season, which included a penalty, Frank said: ‘I have said many times he is the best penalty taker in the world and hopefully I won’t get bored (of) saying it.

‘England have been in a few penalty shootouts and if they want to win one, they need to pick Ivan.’

Jadon Sancho, who was one of the three to miss against Italy, previously scored three penalties from three attempts during his time with Borussia Dortmund.

Similarly, Bukayo Saka is Arsenal’s penalty taker and has scored three from three, including the decisive goal in Sunday’s enthralling victory over Liverpool.

Furthermore, James Ward-Prowse, despite missing in his only attempt for England, is renowned for his all-round set-piece prowess and has scored 13 out of 17 penalties for Southampton. 

Eric Dier and Harry Maguire have both never taken a penalty in normal time but each scored two out of two spot kicks in shootouts for England. 

How do the goalkeepers shape up?

Despite the impressive club form of Aaron Ramsdale and Nick Pope so far this season, Jordan Pickford is no doubt Gareth Southgate’s first choice, with the Everton stopper having been his undisputed No 1 throughout his time in charge. 

 The former Sunderland youngster has experience of three penalty shootouts for the Three Lions.

Against Colombia in 2018, he saved one out of five he faced – a sprawling stop from Carlos Bacca to help England win their first-ever World Cup shootout. 

At Wembley last summer against Italy, Pickford again showed his prowess with stops from Andrea Belotti and Jorginho. 

The latter at the time was seen as a penalty supremo, but the Everton No 1 was able to outfox the midfielder’s technique and keep England’s hopes alive.

He also helped England to secure a third-place finish at the Nations League finals in 2019 when he stopped Josip Drmic’s penalty against Switzerland. 

To demonstrate another string to his bow, the first 11 penalties of that shootout had been scored, including England’s fifth which was netted by Pickford himself.

Throughout his senior career, Pickford has saved nine out of 47 spot kicks (which includes one out of seven for the Three Lions) – a 19 per cent save rate. 

Aaron Ramsdale, who seems most likely to be Southgate’s No 2 keeper, has saved four from 21 – also a 19 per cent save rate.

However, the Arsenal stopper, who won 15 caps for England under-21s, saved three out of six penalties he faced for the young Lions. 

Nick Pope has just a 15 per cent save rate, stopping four from 27 penalties he has faced, and the Newcastle No 1 failed to save Ilkay Gundogan’s spot kick for Germany in the 3-3 draw last month. 

Dean Henderson slipped down the England pecking order after struggling for gametime at Manchester United last season but was recalled in Southgate’s most recent squad. 

The Nottingham Forest loanee has a superb penalty-saving record, and the best of all of England’s potential options.

This is ironic as it looks as if Henderson will miss out on the final squad, judged by both Aaron Ramsdale and Nick Pope starting games against Italy and Germany when Pickford was missing through injury.

Henderson has saved eight out of 16 penalties he has faced in senior football and two out of three when he played for the England under-21s. 

In total, that gives him a 53 per cent save rate. Henderson’s qualities have been demonstrated this season already by saving penalties from England teammates Declan Rice and Harry Kane in the Premier League.

Could Henderson’s prowess at stopping spot kicks force Southgate into a U-turn in his thinking?  

Can England bounce back from Euros heartache?

Following the heartache at the Euros last summer, Gareth Southgate took full responsibility for England’s defeat and backed their preparation ahead of the final.

‘In terms of the penalties, that’s my call and totally rests with me,’ the England boss said after the loss at Wembley.

‘We had two [penalty takers] go off earlier in the game, so that’s why we made the changes that we did. 

‘We’ve tracked what they’ve done with their clubs over a long period of time and what they’ve shown in training as well so that’s the process that worked for us in Russia and the Nations League, but tonight, it hasn’t quite worked.’ 

There is no doubt the dread of penalties have a hold over England fans and perhaps the weight of fear has rubbed off on the players during shootouts. 

However, under Southgate, England have now faced three penalty shootouts in three years.

They will have to use every inch of experience acquired during the pressure moments if they find themselves in a familiar situation in Qatar.

There is hope, as Pickford has proven to be an able performer and the Everton stopper is known for making big saves at key times. 

Meanwhile, Kane is a world class penalty taker with an extremely impressive record that he has repeatedly shown for both the Three Lions and Tottenham.

However, there is a worry that within England’s potential squad, there aren’t many regular penalty takers for the clubs.

Among Italy’s penalty takers last year, they had taken 160 penalties in compeititve matches which dwarfed England’s experiences of 71, 52 of which belonged to Kane.

And for Southgate, the preparation for a similar situation this time started long ago, with the England boss confiriming during the March international break that work was already underway.

He said: ‘We’ve gone into various details with the players of where we can improve to be world champions.

‘We didn’t have a chance to do that in such detail in the Autumn as we had to get straight on to the focus of qualifying, so we felt this camp was a good time to start that.

‘Penalties has been part of that. In terms of regular penalty- takers at their club, we really only have Harry Kane and James Ward-Prowse. 

‘Maybe they would think it is a bit early but, if you take out matchdays and the day after, you are probably talking about 20 training days between now and that situation happening in a knockout stage.’

Whether England can bounce back from their Euros heartbreak remains to be seen but a whole nation will wait with bated breath and cross every part of their body if they face a similar situation in Qatar this winter.