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4 months ago
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Social media sleuths think they have narrowed their search down to two members of the England squad after Trent Alexander-Arnold revealed that a team-mate 'didn't want to take' a penalty against Switzerland.
The Liverpool star came off the bench in the second-half of extra-time to take a penalty during the shootout and scored the decisive spot-kick to send England into the semi-finals.
Alexander-Arnold had been brought on by Gareth Southgate to take a penalty, a decision which paid dividends as he sent Yann Sommer the wrong way after Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Ivan Toney all scored.
The 25-year-old celebrated with friends and family after the match - and was overheard saying 'he didn't want to take one' in a video which has gone viral.
His comment has raised debate over who didn't want to take a penalty. And hours after the dramatic victory, two names have stayed on the lips of England fans.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was caught telling his brothers after the game that a player 'didn't want to take' a spot-kick
Many England fans are convinced that the Liverpool star was referring to either Harry Kane or Phil Foden
Neither England captain Kane (left) nor Foden (right) were on the pitch during the shoot-out
'He didn’t wanna take one” bodied Foden,' wrote one fan on X. Another said: 'Can only think it was Kane or Foden.
'Has to be Kane or Foden.' Speculated another supporter on the social media platform.
Another wrote: 'Trent is definitely referring to Phil Foden here. Taken off with 5 minutes to go for TAA vs Switzerland. Not surprised to be honest. Foden doesn’t strike me as someone having cojones for an international penalty shoot-out.'
'I wonder who that was about? Rice? Foden? Eze?' Said another fan, adding two other players to the mix.
Players on the pitch at the time of the shoot-out who didn't take a penalty included Jordan Pickford, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Declan Rice, Luke Shaw and Eberechi Eze.
But both Phil Foden and Harry Kane, with the Liverpool defender replacing the Manchester City star and Toney coming on for the England skipper after he collided into Gareth Southgate on the touchline after being pushed by Manuel Akanji.
Kane has successfully taken penalties in each of England's previous shoot-out wins under Southgate. He is also the side's penalty taker and enjoys a superb record from 12 yards.
It is also possible Alexander-Arnold was talking about a Swiss player. He would have come up against Man City's Akanji on several occasions and also played with Xherdan Shaqiri at Liverpool.
Sources close to the England camp say their penalty takers were chosen by Southgate and his coaching staff - and the players were not given a choice.
Saturday's triumph was the third penalty shoot-out success by the England team in the last eight years under Southgate, having won only one of their previous seven at major tournaments.
Fans have been speculating over the identity of the player Alexander-Arnold was referring to
The 25-year-old scored the decisive spot-kick to complete a perfect set of penalties for England
The Three Lions have now won three of their four penalty shoot-outs under Gareth Southgate
The only defeat in recent times came in the final of the Euro 2020 against Italy at Wembley.
England return to action on Wednesday when they face the Netherlands in the semi-final after Ronald Koeman's side came from behind to beat Turkey 2-1 on Saturday night.
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