Hart confident England will handle pressure

On Sunday in Kiev, England will either reach their first tournament semi-final since Euro 96 or be left to pack their bags for home, having lost to a durable, if unspectacular Italy outfit.

It is the type of day upon which entire careers are built. A time to stand up and deliver, or shrink away and leave others to stride on towards the major prize.

Hart cannot determine the outcome on his own. He cannot guarantee victory.

But, win or lose, the 25-year-old is determined to relish the experience.

“You’ve got to enjoy these situations,” he said.

“If you can’t come to a major tournament, play for your country in a quarter-final against a massive nation like Italy and enjoy it, you’ve got problems.

“Embrace it, be confident. These are memories for life.”

It is the kind of attitude Hart has shown all season at Manchester City, the kind of attitude that indicates he could be one of the men Roy Hodgson turns to if England find their fate being determined in a penalty shoot-out.

After all, he has done it before in 2007 during England’s epic European Under-21 championship semi-final encounter with Holland, when they lost 13-12.

The responsibility is not one Hart would shirk away from.

However, he would prefer the outcome to be determined in a more conventional manner.

“Hopefully, we’ll have enough to win the game before penalties,” he said.

“Penalties are a lottery. We were supposed to have this jinx about never beating the Germans in a shoot-out, then Chelsea blew that out of the water.

“There are jinxes everywhere if you really look deep.

“I’d prefer to win the game properly. Play well, be solid, not concede and score, then we don’t need to worry about penalties.”

The homework has to be done though.

Hart’s one-time England colleague Ben Foster once revealed he had watched DVD’s of Tottenham’s likely penalty takers immediately before helping Manchester United win the 2009 Carling Cup.

Petr Cech was meticulous in his preparations for the shoot-out that saw Chelsea finally crowned European champions in Munich last month.

“You can find out anything you want to know, the way they play, what they prefer to do, where their last goals were scored, where they concede their goals, even who their girlfriend is if you really want,” he said.

“If you’re on YouTube you have access to any penalty that’s been taken at any kind of professional level for the last 10 years.

“I’ve not got a magic answer though. I just know in my head what I want to do.

“And regards the blame and people saying it’s not your fault, if you lose it means you’re out the tournament. That’s your worst nightmare.”

Hodgson has pledged England will increase their spot-kick practice, although Hart is sceptical how much good it will do.

“You cannot recreate a penalty shoot-out in a major tournament,” he said. “It’s totally impossible.”

There was positive news about one of the men earmarked to take a penalty after the FA confirmed Hodgson expected everyone to be fit for Sunday’s game.

That means Ashley Young should recover from his shin injury.

If Hodgson is going to tinker with his starting line-up, it is likely to be with the offensive element given England’s strength over the past fortnight has undoubtedly been their defending.

Yet Hart knows he is in direct competition with one of the world’s best on Sunday, in Italy captain Gianluigi Buffon, someone who spoke so highly of Hart in an interview a few years ago the Manchester City star kept a copy.

“I’ve got it in my house,” he said.

“I didn’t take it too much to heart because it wasn’t particularly about me and you’re going to say nice things about any goalkeeper.

“But he is a huge name in goalkeeping terms.

“We don’t get a great deal of access to him, which is a shame, because he has been a legend for years.

“I love the way he plays. He’s got a great style about him, is in control of the situation, seems to have good mannerisms and makes the big saves when required.

“He doesn’t go looking for action, which is key for a goalkeeper. The last thing you want is your keeper trying to take crosses 30 yards out or slide-tackling people.

“He just does his thing and is very good at it. I’m really looking forward to playing against him.”

Hart, meanwhile, does not believe Manchester City team-mate Mario Balotelli will ever be bothered about the numerous stories that appear about him.

The Italy striker has rarely been out of the headlines since his arrival in England in August 2010, with many bizarre off-field stories surfacing in the media.

On the pitch Balotelli has been involved in more than his fair share of scrapes too, including three red cards for City last term and rows with team-mates and manager Roberto Mancini. But there have also been moments of genius, such as his brilliant goal against the Republic of Ireland on Monday. Hart knows Balotelli will not care a jot.

“Outside of football, people have taken a keen interest in what he does because he’s quite an extravagant guy,” he said. “Mario accepts that sometimes he’s going to bring attention to himself.

“But he has broad shoulders and I know whatever is written will not affect him. People can keep writing. Even when some things were made up, he wasn’t bothered. Things like that just kind of slide off him.”