Who will take England's penalties? Three Lions' best options for World Cup shootout revealed

Open menu

OneFootball's home page

Settings

Evening Standard

5 July 2026

Harry Kane is a certainty - but who else would answer Thomas Tuchel’s call?

Another major tournament knockout game for

England

immediately turns the mind to penalties, as they prepare to face Mexico in the

World Cup 2026

round of 16.

The Three Lions’ most recent shootout was at

Euro

2024, under former manager Gareth Southgate, when they beat Switzerland 5-3 on spot-kicks following a 1-1 draw in Dusseldorf to reach the semi-finals.

Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold all scored from 12 yards, with Toney’s attempt notable for the striker not looking at the ball when he struck it.

Thomas Tuchel would have to make changes to that lineup at this

World Cup

, having left Palmer and Alexander-Arnold at home.

Elation:

celebrate after their shootout victory over Switzerland in 2024

Getty

“For me, my five would be:

Harry Kane

, Anthony Gordon, Ivan Toney, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford,”

legend Alan Shearer told

Betfair

He added: “I've been in that situation where you've got your five before the game and there may be only two left on the pitch. So, you have to chop and change. But in an ideal world, if it goes to penalties, then those would be my five.”

After England’s shootout win over Switzerland in 2024, Shearer produced a now-famous speech about the pressure the players had overcome.

He said at the time: "Palmer, Bellingham, Saka, Toney, Trent. Pressure? What pressure? Pressure is for tyres!

“It's a different generation. They don't feel it. How confident were they? They had the belief.”

Shearer scored in the Three Lions’ loss on penalties to Germany in the

96 semi-final on home soil, part of a run of six

shootout defeats in seven. Southgate missed the decisive penalty that day at the old Wembley.

Spot-on:

scored a retaken penalty in England’s opening win over Croatia

After being hired as

manager in late 2016, Southgate and the FA overhauled the team’s penalty methodology, borrowing principles from a book called Pressure: Lessons from the psychology of the penalty shootout.

The book insisted penalties should be deconstructed step-by-step, rather than construed as a ‘lottery’ or ‘luck’.

Learning that process culminated in England’s first-ever

penalty shootout victory, against Colombia in the last 16 in Moscow in 2018. Kane and Rashford scored that day, with Jordan Pickford saving two penalties in a 4-3 shootout win.

England have won three of their last four since then, including against Switzerland in the third-place play-off of the Nations League in 2019, when Pickford scored one himself and saved another in a 6-5 triumph.

There was another agonising loss on penalties in the final of the delayed

2020 tournament five years ago, 3-2 against Italy at Wembley.

Mexico coach fires warning to England ‘icon’ ahead of WC showdown – ‘We’ll try to neutralise him’

Football365

Harry Kane sends ominous warning to England’s World Cup rivals before crunch clash with Mexico

The Independent

World Cup Day 21: Kane rescues England, Belgium stun Senegal

The Football Faithful

England route to World Cup 2026 final as Harry Kane heroics keep hopes alive

Harry Kane double saves England from their worst World Cup defeat ever

Predicting which clubs the summer's biggest free agents will sign for

There are still some massive names who are set to become free agents in the summer, with some high-profile deals due to expire at the end of next month.As speculation...

Tottenham: Why James Maddison was not awarded a penalty against Leeds as Premier League issue statement

Spurs midfielder denied a big moment on his return from injuryThe Premier League has explained why Tottenham were not awarded a penalty in their draw against Leeds.As the clock ticked...

Bento's howler delays CR7's first title in Saudi Arabia 😱

An ugly mistake by Brazilian goalkeeper Bento prevented Al-Nassr from winning the Saudi League title this Tuesday.Cristiano Ronaldo’s team was leading 1-0 until the 53rd minute of the second half,...