Gareth Southgate looks to lay ghost

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It was inevitable that, at some point, the conversation with Gareth Southgate would turn to the most harrowing ordeal of his professional life and the reasons why the England manager, after two decades of living with the consequences, is so determined to make sure his team will not fall into the same trap. Southgate was thinking back to that night against Germany in the semi-final of Euro 96, http://www.authenticpittsburghpiratesshop.com/Starling-Marte-Jersey with the game drawn 1-1, and the traumatic events that led to John Major, the prime minister, offering him a sympathetic hug outside Wembley. The night Southgate was asked by Terry Venables, just moments before the penalty shootout Joey Bosa Womens Jersey started, if he would take http://www.dolphinsshopfootballonline.com/Davon-Godchaux-Jersey one and it hit him, in his own words, like “a bolt from the blue”. The night he assured Bryan Robson that, yes, he had taken a penalty before. “Bryan didn’t ask for details,” Southgate later recalled. “That suited me. My penalty career had been brief: one missed effort for Crystal Palace three seasons previously.” It is 22 years since Southgate set off on that lonely walk from the centre circle and, if nothing else, at least it means he can speak from authority now England have reached the stage of the World Cup where the line between success and failure could feasibly rest on one team’s accuracy from 12 yards. Southgate can remember that walk and how dark it had suddenly become: the realisation the world was watching, the nauseous feeling that Andreas Köpke, the German goalkeeper, seemed to have grown a few inches and, worse, the moment the crowd made out who it was walking towards the Mike Reilly Jersey penalty area. “It’s Southgate, the inexperienced lad,” was how it felt at the time, nerves mangled. For England, Southgate’s haunted look that night is all part of a wider narrative. Add Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle at Italia 90, Paul Ince and David Batty at France 98, David Beckham and Darius Vassell at Euro 2004, the misses of Frank Lampard, Steven Joe Sakic Womens Jersey Gerrard and Jamie Carragher at the 2006 World Cup and the Euro 2012 aberrations of Ashley Young and Ashley Cole. England’s shootout record is, frankly, abysmal: six defeats from seven in major tournaments, the exception being against Spain at Euro 96. And not forgetting, the penalty misses of Les Ferdinand and Rob Lee against Belgium in the King Hassan II International Cup in Authentic Randy Jones Jersey Morocco in 1998. Equally, it is fair to say England’s players will never have been better prepared if Tuesday’s game against Colombia, or any of the possible assignments beyond that point, goes the same way and perhaps that should not be a surprise given the identity of the manager and his own story. “I have had a couple of decades thinking it through,” Southgate said. “I was a volunteer, really [in Euro 96]. The type of character I was, I felt you should put yourself forward. It is probably braver not to, if you are not confident. But in defence of the staff who were there at the time, penalty shootouts weren’t as regular then. FA Cup ties, for instance, went to two or three replays, so we weren’t in those situations as often as now. The depth of knowledge and understanding wasn’t so great and we didn’t have as much information as we do now.” Southgate was asked after the 1-0 defeat against Belgium in Kaliningrad whether http://www.seahawksofficialfootballonlines.com/WOMENS_YOUTH_KAM_CHANCELLOR_JERSEY.htmlhis players had started practising penalties and he replied the process had started in March rather than cramming in everything over a matter of days. His players have been encouraged to practice at the end of virtually each training session, starting with the walk from the centre circle. A team of video analysts – two of whom, Stephen O’Brien and Mike Baker, are in Repino – have http://www.footballcowboysproshop.com/Byron-Jones-Jerseybeen studying the opposition penalty-takers to offer Jordan Pickford clues, as well as analysing the diving patterns of all the World Cup goalkeepers. England already have their five designated penalty-takers drawn up and the back-up options. Southgate even has a list of the staff who are allowed to go on the pitch and others he wants to keep out of the way. The phrase he uses, more than once, is to “own the process” – meaning to take control rather than wilting under the pressure, as he did. England’s players even had psychometric tests before the tournament to help the process. wholesale nfl jerseys cheap nfl jerseys wholesale nfl jerseys from china cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys free shipping cheap jerseys china cheap jerseys from china