Tuchel will stick to Southgate’s penalty planpublished 13:57 BST 1 July
England v DR Congo (Wed 17:00 BST)
Sami Mokbel
Senior football correspondent for BBC Sport
England coach Thomas Tuchel has said his side will follow Gareth Southgate’s World Cup penalty shootout pattern.
Prior to Southgate’s appointment as England head coach in 2016, the national team had a poor record in penalty shootouts at tournaments, winning just one out of seven.
But under Southgate, England took penalty preparation to a new level, resulting in the team winning three out of four penalty shootouts.
Tuchel confirmed that the team will continue the processes established by Southgate.
“The FA has a program that has been in place for many years and we follow it,” Tuchel said.
“We are ready. We have a process, the players have a process.”
Tuchel said he had been unprepared for penalty shootouts in the past, admitting he “forgot” to prepare for the opportunity in 2016 when his Borussia Dortmund side faced Bayern Munich in the German Cup final.
Bayern won 4–3 on penalties after the match had finished 0–0, with Tuchel having to choose the order of the penalty takers in the short period after extra time and before the shootout began.
“Very painful experience and a big, big scar on me because I felt really, really bad about letting myself down, so that was the first time. This will never happen again,” he said.
You can read more about Southgate’s penalty plan here.
