How Cristiano Ronaldo Helped England To Win A Penalty Shootout

Cristiano Ronaldo actually helped England win their penalty shootout against Colombia.

How?

Well, England players were told to emulate Ronaldo's penalty technique by the FA prior to setting off for Russia according to Telegraph.

FA technical director Dan Ashworth identified penalties as a key focus for improvement ahead of the World Cup.

Gareth Southgate put his England players through their paces in training, making them hone their spot kicks ahead of a potential shootout.

England players celebrate. Image: PA

Other ways of improving England's miserable penalty record included taking part in indoor golf-putting competitions and to heckle each other to reenact a match game situation.

Not to mention copying the style of Ronaldo who takes his time before striking the ball.

The Portugal skipper has a methodically approach to penalties which includes a few deep breathes in order to compose himself.

Ronaldo places the ball on the spot. Image: PA

Ronaldo strikes a penalty. Image: PA

Ronaldo successfully converted a penalty in Portugal's opening World Cup fixture against Spain. But fluffed his lines from the spot versus Iran.

Though, he's normally lethal from 12 yards.

Meanwhile, Ashworth detailed his teams research which produced some interesting results: "We've got a research team on it to come back with some interesting findings.

"How are we going to get over that? Because if you're going to win a World Cup, statistics will tell you that you'll have to get through one round on penalties. And they had some quite inventive ways of how they dealt with that.

"Just an indoor thing in one of the meeting rooms, teams of five, and you're allowed to put the other team off. So, there's all sorts of shouting and hollering, a bit of pressure.

"That was just one inventive way our Under-20 coaches looked at doing something different and it was about penalties."

Anyway, following a dramatic victory in Moscow, England continue their thrilling Russian adventure on Saturday against Sweden for a spot in the semi-final.

IT'S COMING HOME!!!

Topics: Football News, Football, England, World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado, and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Michael Bisping and Anthony Joshua. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

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