England booked their place in the Euro 2024 semi-finals with a tense penalty shootout victory over Switzerland on Saturday after the quarter-final clash in Dusseldorf finished 1-1.
Gareth Southgate’s side have struggled to hit top gear at the Euros but were faultless in the shootout, with Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold all emphatically converting from the spot and Jordan Pickford keeping out Manuel Akanji to send England through.
Shortly after England reached the semi-final of yet another major tournament, Alexander-Arnold was spotted telling two friends that one member of the Three Lions squad didn’t want to step up.
While the Liverpool star gave no indication of who that player was, social media was rife with speculation and some reasoned it could have been Foden because he was subbed off for Alexander-Arnold deep into extra-time.
But Foden, who scored a penalty against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in April, insists he would have stepped up if he was needed.
‘I would have taken one if I was still on the pitch but I think there’s players who take them regularly for their clubs so it makes sense for them to take them,’ he told talkSPORT.
‘I think that’s what Gareth did, put the best penalty-takers on the pitch. I’m glad he did that now because it definitely worked in our favour.
I feel like it’s a confidence thing, if you belief you’re going to score you can definitely be a penalty-taker.
‘Like I said, I wouldn’t have minded taking one if I was still on the pitch but there’s probably better penalty-takers than me.’
Asked how he felt during the penalty shootout, Premier League player of the year Foden added: ‘I’m not going to lie, I was so nervous watching the boys.
‘When you’re not on the pitch, I feel like you think a lot more about what’s happening.
‘But I had full belief in the lads, there’s been a lot of work going into penalties in training. The ones taking them looked so confident and never looked like missing.’
The Netherlands now stand in England’s way of back-to-back European Championship finals, after the Three Lions lost to Italy in the last showpiece event in 2021.
Ronald Koeman’s side struggled in the group stage – finishing third in Group D – but have improved in the knockouts, beating Romania and Turkey to set up an intriguing semi-final meeting with Southgate’s side.
Revealing his prediction for the semi-final clash in Dortmund, ex-Premier League striker Chris Sutton told BBC Sport: ‘So, how do you call this?
‘I don’t think anything is going to drastically change in the way England play – they are not going to suddenly find some amazing patterns of play that break the Netherlands down.
‘Instead, if England are going to reach their second successive Euros final, they are going to have to rely on individual brilliance again.
‘I have not just been blindly backing them to get through each knockout round in Germany but they are definitely on the more gentle side of the draw.
‘This is their toughest game yet, and it is going to be very close, but I do think England will edge it… somehow.’
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