Tuchel inherits Southgate's penalty shootout plan

England manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed that his team will adopt former manager Gareth Southgate's penalty shootout plan for the World Cup. Tuchel's side will face the Democratic Republic of Congo in their first knockout stage match. There is a possibility that this match will be a penalty shootout. Before Southgate took over as England manager in 2016, the team had a poor record in penalty shootouts, winning just one of seven competitions. However, under Southgate, England took their penalty shootout preparation to a new level, winning three of their four penalty shootouts. Tuchel has confirmed that this process will continue. "We are continuing the program that the FA has run for many years," Tuchel said. ``We are ready. We have a process and the players have a process.'' He also cautioned that it is difficult to simulate a penalty shootout situation. “Thierry Henry said he doesn't remember the first penalty shoot-out for France, but that's something you can't recreate in training,” he said. Asked whether he would let his players take penalties, Tuchel said: "We have a set order of who will take them, but we don't know who will finish the game." Southgate's philosophy was that clarity and preparation were key, with the belief that penalty shootouts were more than just luck. The team practiced penalties regularly, replicating real-life experience as much as possible in training, making the process based on muscle memory. Manager Southgate decided on penalty kickers in advance based on training and tried to avoid placing responsibility on his players. Additionally, players who took penalties were picked up by ``buddies'' at the halfway line to help spread the pressure. Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford also had detailed research notes on his opponent's approach written on his water bottle. In the Euro 2020 final, Southgate brought on Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho in the closing stages for penalties, but then adjusted his approach as he felt there was not enough time for them to be fully involved. England have experienced 11 penalty shootouts so far in the World Cup, Euros and Nations League. Before Southgate took over, England's only success came against Spain at Euro 96, but England's first World Cup penalty shoot-out victory came against Colombia in 2018. This was followed up the following year with a 6-5 victory over Switzerland in the Nations League. In 2021, there was a big defeat against Italy in the final of Euro 2020, but they came back to win from 12 yards out in a 5-3 win over Switzerland at Euro 2024. Tuchel said we shouldn't expect a "magnificent performance" against the Democratic Republic of Congo. Tuchel's side won Group L with wins over Croatia and Panama and a draw with Ghana. The German coach hopes to perform well against stronger teams in the second half of the tournament. He told BBC Sport: "We will actually play against copies of Panama and Ghana in the round of 32. We'll see the best version of us as we get through the next round and progress further in the tournament... As long as teams don't try to beat us and prevent us from playing, we expect to win. Everyone expects us to win. So there's not much to win other than meeting our expectations." The Democratic Republic of Congo finished third in Group K after a 1-1 draw with Portugal, a 0-1 loss to Colombia, and a 3-1 win over Uzbekistan. "This is not a moment to shine, this is a time to do what needs to be done, to show individual quality, to show small moments," Tuchel continued. ---