ENGLAND have taken part in 11 major international penalty shootouts since 1990 and won four of them, according to englandfootballonline.com. Mexico have two World Cup shootouts on their record and won neither. England are set to face the hosts in the Round of 16, and Mexico vs England odds are already drawing plenty of attention ahead of the tie.
England: a slow climb from the spot
England’s first major penalty shootout came at the 1990 World Cup semi-final against West Germany. Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle both missed, and England were eliminated. Euro 1996 brought one bright moment, as David Seaman saved Miguel Angel Nadal’s penalty to help England beat Spain 4-2 at Wembley in the quarter-final. But the semi-final against Germany ended the same way, with Gareth Southgate’s missed kick sending England home.
Argentina in 1998, Portugal at Euro 2004, and Portugal again at the 2006 World Cup completed a sequence that left England with just one win from seven major tournament shootouts over 28 years.
The turnaround started in 2018. Eric Dier’s penalty beat Colombia in Moscow, giving England their first World Cup shootout win. The low point of the years that followed came at Euro
2021, when Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho, and Marcus Rashford all missed at Wembley as England lost the final to Italy 3-2 on spot-kicks.
At Euro 2024, England converted all five of their penalties against Switzerland in the quarter-final. Jordan Pickford also saved Manuel Akanji’s kick, sealing a 5-3 win. Three of England’s four total shootout victories have come since 2018.
Their overall record across World Cup, European Championship, and Nations League shootouts stands at four wins from 11, which is a 36% success rate.
Mexico: two World Cup attempts, no wins
Mexico haven’t been involved in a World Cup penalty shootout since 1994, but the two they did reach both ended in elimination.
The first came in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final against West Germany. After 120 goalless minutes, Mexico needed spot-kicks to progress. West Germany goalkeeper Harald Schumacher saved their second and third penalties, and Germany scored all four of theirs to win 4-1, according to Wikipedia’s list of FIFA World Cup penalty shootouts. Only seven penalties were taken in total, making it one of the shortest shootouts in World Cup history, according to Opta Analyst.
Eight years later at the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Mexico faced Bulgaria in the round of 16. They converted just one of four penalties. Bulgaria goalkeeper Borislav Mihaylov made multiple saves, and Bulgaria won 3-1 on spot-kicks to eliminate Mexico.
Across both shootouts, Mexico scored two penalties from seven taken – a 29 per cent conversion rate, based on Wikipedia’s World Cup penalty shootout data. They have not won a World Cup shootout.
Who comes out ahead
England, on both record and trajectory, and UK football odds are in the Three Lions’ favour. Their overall win rate across major tournaments is 36% (four from 11), against Mexico’s zero from two in World Cup competition.
Before the 2018 Colombia match, England had won just one of eight major tournament shootouts. In the four since, they’ve won three. Mexico’s last World Cup shootout remains 1994. The gap in records is real, and England have the numbers to show it.
Article written by Emily Rickard
