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Gary Lineker once famously said that football is a simple sport: it's eleven against eleven for 90 minutes and the Germans win on penalties.
 
So it's no surprise that the second it was confirmed that England would play Germany in the next round of the World Cup, everyone's thoughts turned to a penalty shootout, almost as if the match itself was just a pointless prelude to the dramatic heartbreak that follows Russian Roulette from twelve yards.
 
One website even offered up an analysis of how the Germans and the English take their spot kicks (http://bit.ly/bdFIT1), not that they needed to. Most English fans already know the answer. As soon as thoughts turned to the penalty shoot out, a cold shiver went down English spines.
 
After all, England aren't much cop when it comes to penalties. Meanwhile, like Chief Wiggum of The Simpsons, the Germans are a whole lot of cop. They didn't miss one when knocking out Mexico in 1986, England in 1990 and Argentina in 2006.
 
Lineker spoke from bitter experience: he was in the team when England lost the semi-final of the 1990 World Cup on penalties to the Germans. And he was in the BBC studio when the lost the semi-final of the 1996 European Championships to the Germans, too. England actually scored all five then, but so did the Germans.

And then Gareth Southgate missed the sixth.

English failure all too familiar
 
When people talk about the iconic images of recent English football history, it's the doom that stands out: Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle missing penalties in 1990, Southgate in 1996. They even did an advert together, playing on that failure - an advert in which Southgate appeared with a bag over his head.
 
At the 2006 World Cup, England went out on penalties to Portugal. Jaime Carragher, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard all missed. Only Owen Hargreaves scored. And, no, it wasn't lost on people that, having been born in Canada and joined Bayern Munich at just sixteen, he was "a German really."
 
The question is, what can England do about it? Many coaches have insisted that the penalty shootout is a lottery. They say it's pointless to practice. It's impossible, so the argument goes, to recreate the tension and the nerves, so why bother?
 
Back in February, Capello told FourFourTwo magazine: "I remember when Italy lost to Brazil in 1994, Roberto Baggio missed a penalty. He is their best player; he scores his penalties. The pressure at that moment is really strong. When you see a penalty in training the goal is wide and the keeper is normal, when you have to shoot during the World Cup, the goal is little but the keeper is REALLY big!"
 
From England's point of view, the nerves and the pressure is even more of a problem. Jermaine Defoe insists that the current squad is not the team that have lost penalty shootouts against Germany before, so the past is irrelevant. "When people look at what's happened over the years, all you remember is losing to Germany on penalties," he admits. "But this is a different game and a different team."
 
But that misses two points and the past surely is relevant, even if subconsciously. One, Gerrard, Lampard and Carragher are still there from last time they failed in a shootout, against Portugal four years ago.

Weight of history upon the English
 
And two, history still weighs upon them. As, in fact, Defoe seems to admit beneath the positive message. If it gets to penalties against Germany, this England team will be conditioned, to some extent, by previous England teams' failures against Germany. Everyone is talking about it, thinking about it. It is the footballing backdrop of these players' lives - they will all remember 1996; most will remember 1990 too. Fear lingers.
 
It may not be possible to overcome that entirely but surely practicing is a good idea? You might not be able to recreate the tension but if you have spent hours and hours talking penalties the same way, smashing them in time and time again, not only are you going to be just better at taking penalties but surely you're going to step up and feel that bit more confident in yourself?
 
Rather than "Oh God, we always lose at penalties," won't players think: "I've done this a hundred times; just do exactly the same thing again - same run-up, same look, same corner, same pace"?
 
Despite the recognition that some things cannot be recreated faithfully, that is Capello's mindset too. England have been taking penalties in every session since the start of the year. "It is like golf. You practice and practice. And you get better, you swing more naturally, you have more confidence," he said.

"It is massive pressure. I didn't handle it in 2006, so if I'm put in that situation again I will try and deal with the pressure a lot better," admits Gerrard. One way of doing that is through repetition and continuity. "Capello," he says, "makes sure we're doing it properly in training. He wants us to do what we do in a game: pick a spot and not change your mind. All you can do is be ready."
 
Not only are England practicing but Capello has already decided on his five takers: Lampard, Barry, Gerrard, Milner and Rooney. What, though, if it gets to a sixth like it did in 1996? People seem to have forgotten that England scored all five but that so did the Germans and then it came to Southgate. The Germans will no doubt be practicing too. And then there's the small matter of Gareth Barry being the only to have scored all of his last five penalties.
 
Of course, as David James insisted, England could try not getting to penalties. But that would mean beating a good side in the World Cup knockout, something they haven't done since 1966. Or maybe playing some genuinely good football, something they haven't really done at the tournament so far.