England Penalty Kick Misses - Post-war

Notes

This table is a complete list of post-war penalty kick misses--22 of them in 21 matches by 19 players. In one match--the 4-2 victory against Brazil at Wembley Stadium in 1956--England missed two penalty kicks.  Three players have each missed two penalty kicks for England:  Roger Byrne, Francis Lee and David Beckham.  No one else missed more than one.

We deal here only with penalty kicks proper, that is, penalty kicks awarded during regulation time or extra-time play for a defending player's infraction--handling the ball or foul play--occurring  within the penalty area.   We do not deal here with penalty kick shootouts conducted at the elimination phases of tournaments after play has ended with the teams level in goals scored.  A successful penalty kick proper results in a goal which is credited to the player and which counts as part of the match score since it is scored during play.  Penalty kick shootouts are used after play has ended with the the teams level in goals to determine only which team advances to the next stage of the tournament or, in the case of the final match of a tournament, which team wins the tournament.  A successful shootout penalty kick is not credited as a goal either in the goals record of the player taking it or in the match scoreline since it is scored after play has ended.  The match result is officially recorded as a draw whatever happens in the penalty kick shootout.  Penalty kicks proper are taken by the player on the team regarded as the best at it, while the players must take turns kicking in penalty kick shootouts.  Penalty kick shootouts are therefore an entirely separate matter from penalty kicks proper.

England lost only one of the 21 post-war matches in which they missed penalty kicks proper; their record was 14 wins, five draws and one loss.  This suggests England's best penalty kick takers--those chosen to take penalty kicks proper--usually rise to the occasion when the game is at stake.  

Until 2004 England had never missed a penalty kick proper at either of the major final tournaments, the World Cup or the European Championship.  The London Sunday Times claimed, in a story published in 2002 on England penalty kicks at the World Cup finals, that Stan Mortensen missed one against the U.S.A. at World Cup 1950.  It was wrong; no penalty kick was awarded against the U.S.A. in 1950, and England have scored on all eight penalty kicks awarded the team in World Cup finals play.  Their first penalty kick miss in the European Championship final tournament came in 2004, when captain David Beckham's effort was saved in the opening group match with England up 1-0 against France, a miss that turned out to be crucial as England yielded two stoppage time goals to lose, 2-1.  It was the first post-war match in which England missed a penalty kick proper and lost.

Three of the 22 post-war penalty kick misses came in British Championship play.  Two came in World Cup qualifiers and two in European Championship qualifiers.  The remaining 13 came in friendly matches.  

In only two of the four major tournament qualifying matches was there much at stake when the penalty kick was missed.  The first was the World Cup 1998 qualifier in Poland in May, 1997, when England direly needed to win to gain ground on Italy in the battle for first place in the qualifying group and the automatic qualification berth that went with first place.  When captain Alan Shearer struck the post with his penalty kick just before half-time, however, England were a goal ahead and appeared to have the match well in hand.  They eventually won, 2-0, and went on to gain a scoreless draw against Italy in Rome in October, 1997, securing first place and qualification short of the playoffs for second-place teams.  

The second was the European Championship 2004 qualifier in Turkey in October, 2003, which England needed to draw to finish first in their group and qualify for the final tournament in Portugal without the need for a playoff.  The match was scoreless when captain David Beckham lost his footing on the treacherous pitch surface and ballooned his penalty kick over the crossbar.  In the end, England secured their draw and outright qualification, the match remaining scoreless.  But the penalty kick miss cost them the win and the two points which they needed to gain seeding as one of the top teams when the draw for the final tournament was conducted in December, 2003, and the draw put them in the same group as top-seeded France, the reigning European champions.

Soon we will add to the list penalty kick misses from before the Second World War.  And we are also compiling a list of England penalty kick successes.

In the meantime, we note that Ron Flowers, the Wolverhampton Wanderers halfback of the 1950s and 1960s, shares the record for most penalty kick goals by an England player, six, with Alan Shearer. But while Shearer missed one penalty kick, Flowers never failed to score, and hence he must be regarded as England's most successful penalty taker.  Two of Flowers' penalty kick goals came in World Cup finals play, against Hungary and Argentina in Chile in 1962, which puts him level with Gary Lineker, who scored two penalty kick goals against Cameroon, one of them in extra-time, at World Cup 1990 in Italy.  Only one of Shearer's penalty kick goals came at the World Cup finals, against Argentina in 1998 in France.  David Beckham has scored five penalty kick goals, including one against Argentina at World Cup 2003 in Japan, against his two misses.  Lineker scored four penalty kick goals against his single miss.

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