England added another chapter to its challenging history with penalty shootouts. Three years after losing the European Championship final on penalties, England’s players showed confidence as they defeated Switzerland in a shootout to reach the semifinals of Euro 2024.
Trent Alexander-Arnold scored the decisive penalty, firing the ball into the top corner as England won the shootout 5-3 after a 1-1 draw in extra time on Saturday.
“The team displayed a lot of character, belief, heart, and spirit out there,” Alexander-Arnold told the BBC. “We knew it would be close, but we were determined to win, no matter what.”
Initially benched for England’s first two Euro 2024 matches, Alexander-Arnold could have easily thought his tournament was over, according to England manager Gareth Southgate. “I kept encouraging him. He still had a big role to play,” Southgate said.
Bukayo Saka, who missed a penalty in the decisive moment of the 2021 shootout final and endured racial abuse afterward, also scored in this shootout. The 22-year-old had earlier equalized to force extra time.
The other penalty scorers were Cole Palmer and Jude Bellingham, both 22, and Ivan Toney, who returned to action in January following an eight-month ban for breaching betting rules.
England took the lead in the shootout after goalkeeper Jordan Pickford saved from Manuel Akanji, who took Switzerland’s first penalty.
Southgate’s own playing career with England was marked by a missed penalty in a semifinal shootout against Germany at the 1996 European Championship.
When he became manager in 2016, England hadn’t won a shootout in 20 years. Under his leadership, England has won three of four shootouts, but lost the most crucial one in the 2021 final.
