Trent Alexander-Arnold accidentally revealed that one England player was reluctant to take a penalty during their victory over Switzerland.
Gareth Southgate’s team progressed to the semifinals following a tense win against the Swiss and will face the Netherlands next Wednesday in Dortmund.
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England seemed on the verge of a quiet exit as they were trailing with just 10 minutes left in regular time, but Bukayo Saka saved the match with a stunning long-range goal.
After a scoreless 30 minutes of extra-time, the match was decided by penalties, with England winning 5-3.
Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji was the only player to miss a penalty, thwarted by Jordan Pickford, while all five of England’s takers successfully scored against Jan Sommer from the penalty spot.
Alexander-Arnold, who came on as a late substitute in extra-time, scored the decisive penalty after successful attempts by Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, and Ivan Toney.
Caught in conversation with his family after the match, however, the Liverpool star let slip that not everyone was keen to try their luck from the spot, saying: ‘He didn’t want to take one.’
“He didn’t want to take one” ???? I wonder who that was about https://t.co/GIyuY86DX3
— ???? (@Gideoomatic) July 6, 2024
Given his miss in the final three years ago against Italy, Saka was praised by Southgate who had nothing but admiration for the Arsenal star who was prepared to go through the ringer again.
‘He’s a dream to work with, he’s a fabulous boy, such a good professional, so much fun to be around,’ said Southgate. ‘Does an amazing job with and without the ball.
‘They’ve all had to go in there and they’re young players in extreme pressure situations but we felt with the players we had on the pitch they were the best to take the penalties.’
Saka added: ‘Obviously for myself, I believe we have some of the best takers in the Premier League and the world, if it did come to penalties we would be confident – we showed that today.
‘For me, it is something I embrace – you can fail once and you have a choice if you are going to put yourself in that position again, I believed in myself and when the ball hit the net I was a very happy man
‘I am not going to be focused on the past, that is done, I can only focus on now. I know there were a lot of nervous people watching, my family included, but I kept my cool.
‘There are two more games, we can change our lives and make history – we are going to watch the game and see who we are facing.’
