England's soccer team used to dread penalty shootouts. Here's why they've come to embrace them

DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Penalty shootouts used to strike fear into the hearts of England’s soccer players and their fans.

Maybe not anymore.

England coach Gareth Southgate, who has his own special chapter in the country’s spot-kick heartache, has worked hard behind the scenes to change the psyche around the shootout in his eight years in charge of the national team.

Now it's something they embrace, not dread.

“I think we’ve got a good process,” Southgate said after England’s 5-3 shootout win over Switzerland in the European Championship quarterfinals.

That process involves a bit of common sense (picking specialist penalty-takers), some science (breathing techniques and not being rushed), plenty of data (on goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s water bottle were instructions for each of Switzerland’s penalty-takers ) and, of course, some luck.

It's clearly working.

England has won three of its four shootouts in Southgate’s tenure. Before that, the team had lost five in a row — stretching back to 1996 when Southgate himself had a penalty saved in a loss to Germany in the Euro semifinals. He ended up in a pizza advert, where he got mocked for his miss.

England’s penalty transformation can be split into two stages.

The first came between January 2017, a few months after Southgate was hired, until the World Cup the following year in Russia.

In that 17 months, a team of analysts led by a sport psychologist worked on getting England better at penalty shootouts. Geir Jordet, a professor at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, details in his recently published book “Pressure: Lessons from the Psychology of the Penalty Shootout” how the analysts found that England coaches typically said the penalty shootout was a “lottery” and that players couldn’t simulate the pressure of a shootout on the training field.

England’s players were taught ways to take control of the situation, not be scared of it.

The second stage came after the Euro 2020 final, which England lost on penalties to Italy — the team’s only shootout failure under Southgate. Southgate realized he’d veered off script primarily by picking the wrong players – like giving Bukayo Saka, at 19 the youngest player in the squad, the decisive fifth penalty that he had saved.

“After those Euros, it was my responsibility,” Southgate said after the Switzerland game. “On a night like tonight, it is the players who deliver. What I want to do is take the pressure off them. If it doesn’t work, it’s down to me.

“But for it to work, it requires them to deliver as they did and they were so composed. I thought the whole process was really calm.”

It was noticeable how much time England players took, particularly Saka, after the referee signaled for the kick to be taken, and how they took plenty of deep breaths before their kicks.

“Some are told to do very deliberate conscious breathing, where they are focusing on deep diaphragmatic breaths that we know will bring on a cascade of constructive hormones and neurobiological processes in your brain and body,” Jordet told The Associated Press.

Away from the science, Southgate has also filled his squad with specialist penalty-takers. Even though No. 1 taker Harry Kane had been subbed off in extra time, England still had in the team Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Ivan Toney (Brentford), Saka (Arsenal) and Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace) who take penalties for their clubs. Throw in Jude Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold, a set-piece specialist who was introduced as a late sub and converted the clinching penalty, and England has a formidable lineup.

Toney even took a no-look penalty for his successful attempt. It wound up being the talk of social media.

“I believe we have some of the best penalty-takers in the Premier League and the world,” Saka said. “We’ve talked about it before — if we do come to penalties, we’d be pretty confident. I’m happy we showed that today. We scored five out of five.”

Then there is Pickford, who has now saved four of 14 penalties he has faced in shootouts at major tournaments. The list of instructions on his water bottle, showing where to dive depending on which opponent is taking the penalty, again shows the lengths England is going to in order to help win shootouts.

“If you’re going to the knockout stage of a Euros, there’s a certain chance — I think at the Euros it’s a 25% chance — that these games go to penalties,” Jordet said. “Now that would mean they should devote an equivalent percentage of time to that in the preparation.”

England appears to have done that and are reaping the rewards.

A nervous nation will still watch through the gaps in their fingers if England is involved in a shootout against the Netherlands in the semifinals on Wednesday and again in Sunday’s final, should the team get there.

But they can do so knowing it’s no longer simply all down to chance.

AP Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024

England celebrate after winning a quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

England celebrate after winning a quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

England's Jude Bellingham, right, and England's Trent Alexander-Arnold celebrate after a quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

England players watch the penalty shootout during a quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

England's goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, right, celebrates with tEngland's Trent Alexander-Arnold after a quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

England's manager Gareth Southgate and players celebrate after a quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

England's goalkeeper Jordan Pickford makes a save from Switzerland's Manuel Akanji during penalty shootout of the quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

England's manager Gareth Southgate celebrates after winning the penalty shootout of a quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

England's goalkeeper Jordan Pickford makes a save during a penalty shootout during a quarter final match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

England's Bukayo Saka reacts after scoring by penalty during a quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

England's Trent Alexander-Arnold shoots to score during penalty shootout of the quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

England's Cole Palmer scores during the penalty shootout of a quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

England's Jude Bellingham scores during a penalty shootout during a quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

England's Bukayo Saka scores during the penalty shootout of a quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

England's Trent Alexander-Arnold scores during the penalty shootout during a quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Duesseldorf, Germany, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Congolese authorities Saturday began vaccinations against mpox, nearly two months after the disease outbreak that spread from Congo to several African countries and beyond was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization.

The 265,000 doses donated to Congo by the European Union and the U.S. were rolled out in the eastern city of Goma in North Kivu province, where hospitals and health workers have been overstretched, struggling to contain the new and possibly more infectious strain of mpox.

Congo, with about 30,000 suspected mpox cases and 859 deaths, accounts for more than 80% of all the cases and 99% of all the deaths reported in Africa this year. All of the Central African nation’s 26 provinces have recorded mpox cases.

Although most mpox infections and deaths recorded in Congo are in children under age 15, the doses being administered are only meant for adults and will be given to at-risk populations and front-line workers, Health Minister Roger Kamba said this week.

“Strategies have been put in place by the services in order to vaccinate all targeted personnel,” Muboyayi ChikayaI, the minister's chief of staff, said as he kicked off the vaccination.

At least 3 million doses of the vaccine approved for use in children are expected from Japan in the coming days, Kamba said.

Mpox, also known as monkeypox, had been spreading mostly undetected for years in Africa before the disease prompted the 2022 global outbreak that saw wealthy countries quickly respond with vaccines from their stockpiles while Africa received only a few doses despite pleas from its governments.

However, unlike the global outbreak in 2022 that was overwhelmingly focused in gay and bisexual men, mpox in Africa is now being spread via sexual transmission as well as through close contact among children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups, Dr. Dimie Ogoina, the chair of WHO’s mpox emergency committee, recently told reporters.

More than 34,000 suspected cases and 866 deaths from the virus have been recorded across 16 countries in Africa this year. That is a 200% increase compared to the same period last year, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

But access to vaccines remains a challenge.

The continent of 1.4 billion people has only secured commitment for 5.9 million doses of mpox vaccines, expected to be available from October through December, Dr. Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa CDC, told reporters last week. Congo remains a priority, he said.

At the vaccination drive in Goma, Dr. Jean Bruno Ngenze, the WHO representative in the province, warned that North Kivu is at a risk of a major outbreak due to the “promiscuity observed in the camps” for displaced people, as one of the world's biggest humanitarian crisis caused by armed violence unfolds there.

The news of the vaccination program brought relief among many in Congo, especially in hospitals that had been struggling to manage the outbreak.

“If everyone could be vaccinated, it would be even better to stop the spread of the disease,” said Dr. Musole Mulambamunva Robert, the medical director of Kavumu Hospital, one of the mpox treatment centers in eastern Congo.

Eastern Congo has been beset by conflict for years, with more than 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich area near the border with Rwanda. Some have been accused of carrying out mass killings.

Associated Press writers Jean-Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo and Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria contributed to this report.

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org

A nurse holds a bottle of mpox vaccine at the General hospital, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Health workers prepare to administer mpox vaccine to members of the public at the General hospital, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A health worker is photographed during mpox vaccination, at the General hospital, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Health workers are photographed during mpox vaccination at the General hospital, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A nurse prepares to administer a vaccine against mpox, at the General hospital, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A man receives a vaccination against mpox, at the General hospital, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A man receives a vaccination against mpox, at the General hospital, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)