Who should take England's penalties in a World Cup shootout? Record for every player

Harry Kane had a penalty saved in England’s World Cup opener, but managed to score the retake (Photo: Getty)

England

’s

World Cup

journey continues on Wednesday evening when they face DR Congo in the round of 32 in Atlanta.

After three somewhat nervy group games, there is no more room for error as

Thomas Tuchel

’s team look to end 60 years of hurt in North America.

Now that the knockouts have begun, the Three Lions must prepare for the possibility of a penalty shootout, which will occur if the match finishes level after 90 minutes and then 30 minutes of extra-time.

England’s relationship with spot-kicks greatly improved under

Gareth Southgate

, winning three of their last four shootouts – the one defeat was, of course, against

Italy

in the

Euro 2020

final.

But who will step up to the plate if the occasion arises?

Betarades

have crunched the numbers to work out who should – and who shouldn’t – volunteer for a World Cup penalty shootout…

Including shootouts, 18 of England’s 26-man squad have taken at least onepenalty during their senior careers for club and country.

Harry Kane

will no doubt take the first penalty. The captain had one saved in the opening game against Croatia but was allowed to retake after an encroachment and second time round he made no mistake.

Anthony Gordon is statistically England’s strongest penalty taker (Photo: Getty)

Ivan Toney was a surprise inclusion in Tuchel’s squad but for good reason -the Al-Ahli star is a penalty specialist, renowned for his ice cold, ‘no look’ technique.

But surprisingly, there is another England player who boasts a better conversation rate from the spot, of those with a meaningful record: Anthony Gordon.

While his performances against Croatia and Ghana left a lot to be desired, the Barcelona winger has scored 16 of his 17 career penalties, a staggering 94 per cent success rate.

Marcus Rashford and

Bukayo Saka

missed in the Euro 2020 final but otherwise are strong from the spot. Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham haven’t taken many penalties but almost always score when they do.

Reece James

and Elliot Anderson are five out of five from the spot, but a lot will depend on who is still on the pitch after 120 minutes. Rice and Saka are struggling for fitness, James is sidelined and Jarell Quansah is an injury doubt.

Eberechi Eze must be kept away from any penalty shootout (Photo: Getty)

Of those with meaningful records, Ollie Watkins is England’s worst penalty taker, with a rather woeful 56 per cent conversion rate.

Eberechi Eze says he would be happy to step up to the plate

but has missed three of his last four, most notably firing wide in Arsenal’s Champions League final defeat to PSG.

Veteran Jordan Henderson was the only player to miss in the 2018 World Cup shootout win against Colombia, while Morgan Rogers has missed the only penalty of his career so far.

Quansah, Nico O’Reilly, Marc Guehi, Djed Spence, Trevoh Chalobah, Dan Burn, Dean Henderson and James Trafford have never taken a penalty in their career.

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