ATLANTA -- England have a plan in place if their round of 32 match against Congo DR goes to a dreaded penalty shootout, and Jordan Pickford says England are ready for any scenario on Wednesday.
Two of the World Cup knockout matches have gone to penalties so far, with the Netherlands and Germany both losing to Morocco and Paraguay respectively.
England have a varied history of penalties, and of the 11 shootouts they've taken part in across major tournaments (European Championships, World Cups and the Nations League) they have come away with four wins.
One of Gareth Southgate's first jobs as England coach was to change the psychology of the team when it came to penalties and from there, they defeated Colombia in the round of 16 at the 2018 World Cup in a shootout, but lost the Euro 2020 final to Italy. They since defeated Switzerland on penalties in the quarterfinals of Euro 2024. Pickford was there for all three.
"You have to be prepared for everything," Pickford said. "Anything can happen, for us as England we want to win over 90 minutes. If it takes 120 or penalties we're prepared, we've done all the training, and we're ready for the game."
Pickford watched the two penalty shootouts on Monday and saw how the goalkeepers looked to get a mental edge over the taker.
"You know, if they're missing pens, that's good for goalkeepers and everyone," Pickford said. "Everyone's got their own routines, own preparations for it, but everyone's different and it's high pressure so it's about execution, repetition and that's what we're prepared for."
Thomas Tuchel said England are following the FA's blueprint for penalties.
"I think it's very difficult to simulate the pressure," Tuchel said. "The FA has a programme in place for many years. We follow this programme in detail, and it's just an important and very specific part of football.
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"We are prepared and we know the process. We are prepared as much as you can prepare for it. I heard Thierry Henry say he couldn't remember his walk up in his first penalty shootout for France. He couldn't remember anything from the halfway line to the penalty spot -- so you cannot plan that, but it comes down to execution and the repetitive action of a set piece."
When asked if the FA's plan includes a pre-defined list of penalty takers, or if they ask the players on the pitch if they want to take one, Tuchel said: "No we don't ask the players on the pitch. We know who takes them and we will have an order in place, but we don't know who finishes the game so that's kind of the, the adjustment that you have to take, but we will have the order in place."