As the fans dispersed from Moscow’s Spartak Stadium, Gareth Southgate shared a special moment with his wife, Alison, daughter Mia, 19, and 15-year-old son Flynn. He hugged them tightly after a win that perhaps signified more than simply a passage through to the World Cup quarter-final. At its most basic level it could be viewed as redemption 22 years in the making.
Before this World Cup run, Southgate was remembered – at least by the masses – for missing a penalty at Wembley against Germany which sent England hurtling out of Euro 96. It has haunted him and when asked whether this victory atoned for that miss Southgate delivered a typically thoughtful response.
Deflecting the praise on to his team is something Southgate has been keen to do throughout the World Cup campaign. But his own personal trauma of missing a penalty in a European Championship semi‑final at home has informed the way he has prepared his team for the possibility of facing spot‑kicks.
Southgate admits to still being tormented by the penalty miss, which came just nine caps into a 55-match international career. In his 2003 book about his playing career, Woody and Nord – written as a co-autobiography with his friend and former team-mate Andy Woodman – Southgate said he felt his inexperience told. He felt Andreas Köpke, the Germany goalkeeper, was able to read his intentions when they faced one other. He did not want his players to feel so vulnerable.
“I’ve learned a million things from that day and the years that followed it,” he said this week. “When something goes wrong in your life it doesn’t finish you and you should become braver, knowing that you’ve got to go for things in life and don’t regret because you didn’t try to be as good as you might be.”
At their training base in Repino, a sleepy seaside town and at St George’s Park before they came to Russia, Southgate has been preparing his players. Since March they have been studying penalties and developing strategies for coping with the pressure, including walking from the centre circle. The goalkeeper Jordan Pickford told how they mimicked distraction techniques including screaming at each other just as they are about to step up to the spot.
Whether all the preparing was decisive in England winning their first World Cup penalty shootout in four attempts will never be known but it certainly didn’t do any damage.