England head coach Sarina Wiegman held a piece of paper in her hand and peered down at a black iPad, held by England goalkeeping coach Darren Ward. To her left was her trusted assistant, Arjan Veurink. They were confirming the five players to take penalties after 120 minutes of football against Nigeria in the Women’s World Cup round of 16 had failed to produce a winner.
“We have talked about the psychology and execution of a penalty,” Wiegman said later. “This is the hardest pressure — when you have to take a penalty in front of 45,000 people. The consequences of missing or (you) score, it’s huge. So we have talked about that psychology as individuals and as a team. We just tried to prepare as well as possible.”
England have been working on their penalty-taking methods since well before winning the European Championship last summer.
Against Nigeria in Brisbane on Monday, their process started the moment the whistle blew to signal the end of extra time…
‘Calm’ and ‘control’ before the shootout
The Dutch duo of Wiegman and Veurink went away to talk to the nine outfield players — with England having been one short following Lauren James’ 87th-minute red card for a stamp on Michelle Alozie.
They huddled up in a circle. Wiegman and Veurink positioned…
