SYDNEY — As the penalty shootout was about to get under way, the England players stood in a line together just in front of the halfway line. Nigeria had made them wait, taking an extra minute or so to group. But England were focused, anchored in what they call “the process.”
It was muscle memory to position themselves there, slightly in advance of the opposition, standing shoulder-to-shoulder as a collective unit, just like they’d prepared for in these circumstances. Those taking their penalties took a couple of extra seconds to compose themselves before running up, remembering the advice they’d been given. Lucy Bronze stood to the right of the England line, waving her right arm, seemingly to try to catch the eye of Nigeria goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie. Mary Earps, the England keeper, stared back at her teammates from the goal line, communicating through fist pumps and nods.
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The Nigeria players were a bit more disjointed — two were on the ground, a couple stood forward of the halfway line, a few stood further back.
When Georgia Stanway missed the first penalty, England’s players came together. When Chloe Kelly scored hers, the group ran en masse towards her, save Rachel Daly who’d already sprinted half the pitch by the time Kelly’s shot ripped into the back of Nigeria’s net.
It was all planned, every eventuality of a penalty shootout neatly mapped out; from the iPad showing Earps where Nigeria’s penalty takers had previously aimed, down to the running order the players knew. The team spoke of “the process” that was established before the Euros, but didn’t need penalties there. They had the experience of the Finalissima in April and came through that, beating Brazil 4-2 on spot kicks after a 1-1 draw.
“We have talked about the psychology of a penalty and we have talked about the execution of a penalty, and then of course in this moment this is the hardest pressure, when you have to take a penalty in front of 45,000 people,” England coach Sarina Wiegman said. “The consequences of missing or score, it’s huge.
“So we have talked about that psychology as individuals and as a team. We just tried to prepare as good as possible. And yes, body language is one of them. And also supporting each other, we stand with each other. They stuck together.”
Bar the Stanway miss it all went to plan, as England went through 4-2 with Kelly scoring the decisive spot kick. It was one of the few aspects of the match where England looked like the England of last summer.
As England now prepare for their Women’s World Cup quarterfinal against Colombia on Saturday, Wiegman again has to shuffle the pack. On the day she welcomed Keira Walsh back into the starting XI, a couple of hours later she was planning for life without Lauren James after she was shown a red card for stepping on Michelle Alozie‘s back.
