Twenty-five years after the sleepless night and elimination from Germany in the semi-finals of the Euro at "Wembley", Gareth Southgate has again become the tragic figure of English football.
The former stopper, who on June 26, 1996 missed a penalty in the sixth series against the "elves", as the last three performers against Italy in last night's final, chose three guys whose average age is 21 years and seven months - Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukaja Saku.
All three have missed, although Rashford has hit 15 of 17 penalties taken so far last night, and Sancho 10 of 11.
Saka, on the other hand, has never played him in the senior competition, and legendary Manchester United captain Roy Keane criticized Southgate, as well as more experienced players, for letting Arsenal's young winger become a scapegoat.
"If you're Sterling, if you're Grillish, you can't stay and watch a kid go to take a penalty before you. It can't! You can't let a shy 19-year-old go ahead of you. They are much more experienced, Sterling won trophies, they had to step up and shoot before those kids," Keane said on ITV, for which he was a professional consultant.
The question is whether Sterling is the right choice, because he used only two penalties in his career, and Grealish was the only one in his career to shoot five and a half years ago in a Premier League reserve match and scored.
Still, they were a better choice than Saka, something Keane's former team-mate Gary Neville agrees with.
"When we saw Saka going to take the penalty, I'm sure we all expected it to be Sterling or Grealish in his place. The order of penalty takers should have been determined in training, and not on a voluntary basis at the last moment. Penalties are being rehearsed, we should have been working on it in the last few days, so that depending on the success, it will be determined who will shoot them, if necessary", explained Neville.
The former United right-back also praised Gianluigi Donnarumma.
"Rashford did everything well, except for the final act. Sancho's penalty was such that goalkeepers always defend it if they hit the side. The same goes for Saka's shot. Donnarumma is a great goalkeeper and if he goes to the right side, chances are high that he will save the penalty. He's huge,” Neville explained.
Keane believes that the players could not prepare for the penalty shootout and all that goes with it.
"It's interesting to me when people talk about how players can prepare for this kind of situation through various data, sports science... But you can't replicate the situation like the penalty shootout in the final of the European Championship, when there's a sea of people in the stands, and huge goalkeeper in front of you. As Mike Tyson says - everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face", the grumpy Irishman was picturesque.
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