England scored all five of their penalties in the Euro 2024 shootout against Switzerland on Saturday and although he didn’t take one, Declan Rice was key to the win
Declan Rice may not have taken a penalty in England’s shootout win against Switzerland – but that didn’t stop the Arsenal star from playing a much-needed role for his team-mates.
Rice, who played the full 120 minutes in Dusseldorf, watched diligently from the halfway line as pals Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold all stepped up and calmly beat Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer. Had England hero Jordan Pickford not saved Manuel Akanji’s effort, Rice may well have been next up to help the Three Lions reach the semi-finals of Euro 2024.
The Arsenal midfielder scored in his penalty in their shootout victory over Porto in the Champions League last season but this time had a different role. “Dec was our speaker who was keeping everyone calm, calming everyone down, telling everyone to do their breathing techniques and manifest it,” revealed team-mate Luke Shaw. “It was needed.”
Rice wasn’t the only non-taker to contribute either, as Kyle Walker also made an impression to help England win 5-3 on penalties. “I think Walks helped him a little bit,” Shaw, who made his first appearance of the tournament as a substitute in the second half, added.
“I could see Walks was pointing to his left. Walks was pointing to that side and it gave him extra help. I think he was already going that way, but it gave him some extra help to know where to go.”
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England exuded confidence from the penalty spot after the teams were locked at 1-1 at the end of extra-time. The Three Lions, who’ll face the Netherlands on Wednesday in a bid to reach the final, have now won three of their four penalty shootouts under Gareth Southgate, who heaped praise on his players for their streetwise approach.
“There’s what we ideally want to be and then there’s how we’ve needed to find ways to win with all the obstacles we’ve had,” Southgate explained. “Going back to losing players a couple of months ago, losing players just before the tournament, different balance of the team, different challenges all the way through, really.
“But as I said to the players, with England it was often start 25 minutes really well, ahead in games and then and then out in the early knockout rounds. We weren’t savvy, we weren’t tournament wise. This group are different.
“They keep possession for longer periods. We haven’t always got it right. The games we’ve ultimately gone out in people can always look back and highlight things.”
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