England prepare to avoid further penalty heartache

Lahm captained his side to victory over Ghana at Soccer City on Wednesday night to set up Sunday's match in Bloemfontein.

The sides look evenly matched, which presents the possibility of another penalty shoot-out following on from the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup and Euro 96.

Germany won both of those encounters to knock England out, and Lahm is confident his team would have the fortitude to step up again if the game goes the full distance.

The Bayern Munich full-back said: "Maybe it will go to penalties – that could suit us.

"I think we are mentally good, we will be prepared for it. We practise penalties sometimes, not every player, but sometimes.

"I hope the English won't be so confident.

"There is a big history (between the teams), they are always big games, interesting games.

"We will see, we are ready to fight. Then we will see who is in the next round."

England coach Fabio Capello is taking no chances and already has his side practising on a daily basis with captain Steven Gerrard insisting he has the "bottle" to take one despite his 2006 spot-kick miss.

The Liverpool midfielder missed from 12 yards when England lost in similar fashion to Portugal in the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The 30-year-old believes you can only prepare to a certain extent for penalties in practice as it bears no resemblance to the pressure and circumstances of a match scenario.

But he will volunteer to step forward if England are level after extra-time against Germany – or any country as the competition progresses.

"I've got a feeling we might have to go to penalties at some point," he said.

"As a player at a World Cup, you've got to be prepared for a shoot-out. It's as simple as that.

"We're in the last 16 and the games, when you get further into a tournament are so tight. Hopefully we get a bit more luck this time and I take a better penalty."

"When you practice penalties in training you pick a ball up and shoot within a few seconds.

"But in the World Cup it's a 30-second walk from the halfway line when you've got millions and millions of viewers back home wanting you to score? You can't prepare for that.

"But what you can do is be ready and not shy away from it and have the bottle to step up there for another go - especially when you've missed one before.

"All I can say is 'I'll be ready.' It is massive pressure. I didn't handle it in 2006.

"If I'm put in that situation again I will try and deal with the pressure a lot better."

Gerrard revealed coach Fabio Capello is ensuring the England players practice penalties in the correct manner.

He said: "The manager is on to the penalty takers to make sure we're doing it properly in training and not messing around.

"He wants us to do in training what we do in a game. He said 'pick a spot and not change your mind.'"

"We aren't doing the walk from halfway but there is still pressure because all the lads are standing there and if you miss you are going to get a little bit of banter," said Defoe. "But most of it is in the mind to be honest.

"Sometimes great players look different to when they play for their club but it's important to be confident.

"When you are scoring goals it seems like the easiest thing in the world. When you aren't it's the hardest thing. You take an extra touch or snatch at chances."

Penalties have always looked easy to Germans. They simply put the ball down, step back, and belt it past the goalkeeper.

Yet England goal hero Jermain Defoe insists there is nothing unique to German DNA that means they score and England don't. Alan Shearer once said he loved the pressure of penalties because it offered the chance for him to become a hero.

And Defoe can see exactly what the former England captain means.

"It is a nice pressure because if you score you know it means so much to everyone at home and it is helping the team achieve something special," he said.

Defoe has no doubts he would be happy to take one, even though he has missed six of his last 11 for Tottenham, admittedly finding the net in a pivotal encounter with Chelsea in April.

Defoe was picked out for a chat by forwards coach Les Ferdinand. But he claims his confidence remains unaffected anyway.

"Les was great with me and pulled me after training," he said.

"He kept telling me I was hitting the ball cleanly so there was no reason I should miss penalties.

"I remember him saying 'Trust me you'll score' and I did."