Fabio Capello: I know who are my penalty takers are already

England have a history of crashing out of the event on penalties – as the1990, 1998, and 2006 finals have proven – and while the Italian admits that even he may not be able to save his men should they get into a penalty shoot-out position in South Africa, he has insisted he already know the players that would strike from the spot.”I know who the best players are to take them, already. I know. But the pressure at the moment you have to take the penalty is different,” Capello told ESPN.

“Penalties are a lottery. I remember some very important players didn’t take penalties because they didn’t feel sure they would score.

“For this reason, with penalties, when the time comes and you have to choose who should take them, you ask and the players say ‘no, please’ and that can even be the very best players.

“I prefer to choose the players who want to take penalties and I always train with penalties in my mind,” he added.

One would expect that Manchester United’s ace Wayne Rooney, Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard and Chelsea’s Frank Lampard who are all first choice takers for their clubs are likely three of the five.

By Simon Hart, World-Track Global