When it comes to losing big games on penalty kicks, England knows all about it as they’ve been knocked out of several major tournaments over the years via that route. While they’d prefer to beat Germany in regular or extra time, they’ll gladly opt for penalty kicks instead of getting beat. England manager Fabio Capello wants his players to be ready for anything and that’s why he’s already announced his first five penalty takers if it comes to that.

The penalty takers for England would be Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole, and John Terry. However, this is assuming all five of these players are still on the pitch at the final whistle. Capello also said he’d take into consideration the type of games these individuals are having.

The English camp knows who the most consistent penalty takers are after seeing them in training every day, but realizes a penalty in a pressure-filled World Cup knockout game is a huge difference from a training ground penalty. Capello wants his penalty takers to be in the right frame of mind and to walk up to the 12-yard spot with confidence. Somebody who has had a rough game may not be an ideal penalty taker no matter how good they are in training.

Meanwhile, Germany’s captain Philipp Lahm has said publicly that his team wouldn’t mind a shootout with their archrivals, especially after knocking England out of the 1990 World Cup and the 1996 Euro championship on spot kicks. England was also knocked out of the 2006 World Cup the same way by Portugal and current team members, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, and Frank Lampard, all missed their kicks.

England goalkeeper David James insists he’s ready for penalties if need be and said he has been studying films of German penalties to see if he can spot any habits. He added that it’s part of his homework and he’ll be ready.

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