England U21s lose semis shoot-out

Dmac

England U21s lose semis shoot-out



England exited the European Under-21 Championship after a dramatic penalty shoot-out semi-final defeat to Holland.

Anton Ferdinand's effort, which smacked against the bar, proved decisive as they lost 13-12 on spot-kicks.

Leroy Lita had put England ahead before half-time, holding off his marker before scoring with a left-foot shot.

Lita also hit the outside of the post with a free-kick but the Dutch equalised in the 89th minutes when Ryan Donk headed across for Maceo Rigters.

Credit - BBC Sport

Just like an English team, we had it won and then a goal comes a couple of minutes before the final whistle....

Crocker

News & Rumors Moderator

Despite the loss I must say that was the greatest penalty shoot out I've ever seen

The Phantom

Have to agree with Crocker, it was edge of the seat stuff for the shootout. I've never seen one go on so long! I had a few quid on the dutch to win on pens with my mate who I was watchin it in the pub with. There's only one certain bet in football... and that's England will lose on a shootout!! ha ha

Dmac

Well another bet would be that England fuck up in the final minutes of play....

Tyler Durden

So us to go out on a shoot out. I will say though this was our best effort at penalties since '96 and does credit to Pearce having the players rehearse and practice penalty shoot outs at the end of their training sessions (and after the pre tourno friendly as well).

I despair with the crappy "players" excuse to avoid practicing penalties since it would be pointless because you can't recreate the drama in training so it's not realistic. Players are such lazy fucks. Look at Beckham with his free kicks and set piece plays, all that strike ability comes from hours of practice to make perfect. Same goes for penalties.

German players practice all the time too, why do you think they keep winning shoot outs, it's not a fluke. I despair at the English mentality on penalty shoot outs and am sad that, the one time, we got it right we still failed. However that shouldn't detract from an incredible effort with the kicks which would have won more often than not.