England manager Roy Hodgson has confirmed that Chelsea defender John Terry could be one of the 5 penalty takers if the Euro 2012 quarter-final match against Italy goes into penalties. England have qualified for the quarter-finals of the competition as the winners of the group D. As a result, they will be facing runners up from the group C – Italy. Due to the fact that Italy are well known for their defensive abilities, there is a very good chance that the game might go into penalties. England manager Roy Hodgson has already revealed that the team are practising penalties just in case the match goes into extra time and penalties.
Chelsea captain and defender John Terry has some of the worst experiences in a penalty shootout after he missed the crucial kick in the 2008 Champions League final against Manchester United in Moscow. Even though John Terry has been redeemed from the mistake this season after Chelsea won their first ever Champions League title, it is thought that John Terry would be extremely fearful of taking a penalty in the match against Italy. Hodgson has denied such rumours by saying that Terry will step up if he is called to do so.
“John will step up to the plate. He has confidence in his own ability. He will take one if needed. We have practised already, we have used the time after training sessions to practice. We’ll obviously take it even more seriously now. But you well know, you can practise penalty shoot-outs until the cows come home, it’s really your composure, your confidence, your ability to block everything out and forget the occasion that means you score or you don’t score,” said a very confident looking Roy Hodgson ahead of the Italy match that will take place on Monday.