Gerrard says England practising penalties to avoid familiar shoot-out nightmare at WC

England captain Steven Gerrard has reportedly revealed that the national squad is practising penalties in order to avoid another shoot-out nightmare at the World Cup in Brazil as they lost on penalties to Italy at Euro 2012.

Gerrard admitted that the squad is affected by the pressure of penalties and said that England is desperate to avoid more of the misery that came at the end of the 1990, 1998 and 2006 World Cups and the 1996, 2004 and 2012 Euros this summer.

According to the Mirror, Gerrard said that it is difficult to describe what it is like, adding that he unfortunately failed in that situation when he took a penalty in a World Cup environment and it was a difficult atmosphere to be in.

Gerrard said that he learnt his lessons from that and scored the penalty he was asked to take a couple of years ago and added that the squad is going to practise penalties a lot but it is a difficult situation to put into words and describe, as there is a lot of pressure.

The Liverpool midfielder added that he could understand the fixation because the England squad has failed in quite a few shoot-outs but he said that do not get carried away with it because it might never come about.