You can’t reproduce the tension, says Hodgson

KIEV – Roy Hodgson admitted he was at a loss to explain how England’s penalty curse could be lifted after watching his side suffer the agony of a shoot-out defeat by Italy on Sunday at UEFA EURO 2012.For the sixth time in seven attempts since the 1990 FIFA World Cup, England bowed out of a major tournament on penalties as Ashley Young and Ashley Cole missed from 12 yards to hand Italy a 4-2 shoot-out win.The Azzurri advance to a semi-final meeting with Germany on Thursday, while England depart the tournament wondering what they have to do to bring an end to their penalties hoodoo.Hodgson said he had been confident in England’s five penalty-takers before the shoot-out had got underway at the Olympic Stadium. “We’ve watched these players taking penalties in training because penalty-taking has become a bit of an obsession for us in English football, and they’ve done extremely well,” Hodgson said.“But you can’t reproduce the tension, you can’t reproduce the occasion, you can’t reproduce the nervousness.”Hodgson spoke admiringly of the composure shown by Italy’s man-of-the-match Andrea Pirlo, who chipped his third penalty delicately straight down the middle as England goalkeeper Joe Hart dived to his right.

Sports

You can’t reproduce the tension, says Hodgson