David James

England last reached the semi-finals of the World Cup under the late great Sir Bobby Robson back in 1990 but fell foul of a penalty shoot-out, with Chris Waddle infamously blazing high over the bar from 12 yards to send West Germany into the final.

Six years later at Euro 96, Terry Venables’ vintage managed to beat Spain in a quarter-final penalty shoot-out but again Germany were too good from the spot in the last four, with Gareth Southgate this time the culprit.

The 1998 World Cup was another tale of woe as Paul Ince and David Batty both missed to hand Argentina a passage to the last four, while Portugal advanced to the semi-finals of Euro 2004 after Darius Vassell failed to convert when the shoot-out had reached sudden death.

It was the same story at the 2006 World Cup as Cristiano Ronaldo netted to send England crashing out once again via the lottery of the spot kick.

Following the disappointment of every defeat by penalties the press question whether the players actually practice the art of scoring from the spot.

James, who may well have the job of trying to save penalties at some stage in South Africa, admitted that the current squad has been ordered to practice from 12 yards but he feels that it should not be overdone, for fear of affecting a player’s mindset when it comes to the real thing.

“People were always asking why England did not practice penalties more and, under Mr Capello, we have done,” he told The Sun. “If there’s the potential for penalty shoot-outs I’m 100 per cent confident everyone will be well versed.

“But it’s not always as simple as just spending hours practicing – that can complicate matters. If a penalty taker practices with the same keeper, the keeper starts reading and saving them.

“Then you’ve got your penalty taker developing a complex because he is not scoring them and your keeper is completely thrown when someone new takes a shot at him.”

There are a number of betting opportunities involving penalties for the World Cup, and England to exit the tournament on penalties can be backed at 3/1, while England to lose to Germany on penalties trades at 25/1.

England to lose the final on penalties is available at 33/1.

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