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- Trent Alexander-Arnold scored the penalty to send England through to the semi-finals
Social media sleuths have narrowed their search down to two members of the England squad after Trent Alexander-Arnold revealed a team-mate ‘didn’t want to take’ a penalty against Switzerland.
The Liverpool star came on as a substitute in the second half of extra time to take a penalty in the shoot-out and scored the decisive spot-kick to send England through to the semi-finals.
Alexander-Arnold was brought on by Gareth Southgate to take a penalty, a decision that paid off as he sent Yann Sommer the wrong way after Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Ivan Toney had all scored.
The 25-year-old celebrated his victory with friends and family after the match, saying in a viral video that he “didn’t want one.”
His comment sparked a debate over who didn’t want to take a penalty, and hours after the dramatic win, two names remained on the lips of England fans.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was caught telling his brothers after the match that a player ‘didn’t want to take a penalty’
Many English fans are convinced the Liverpool star was referring to Harry Kane or Phil Foden
Neither England captain Kane (left) nor Foden (right) were on the pitch during the shoot-out
“He wouldn’t take one,” one fan wrote on X. Another said: “I can only think it was Kane or Foden.
“It has to be Kane or Foden,” another supporter speculated 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 with the balls to play an international penalty shoot-out.’
“I wonder who that was? Rice? Foden? Eze?” said another fan, adding two other players to the mix.
Players who were on the pitch at the time of the penalty shootout and did not 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 replacing the England captain after colliding with Gareth Southgate on the touchline after being pushed by Manuel Akanji.
Kane has successfully taken penalties in each of England’s previous shoot-out victories under Southgate. He is also the team’s penalty taker and has an excellent record from 12 yards.
It is also possible that Alexander-Arnold was referring to a Swiss player. He is said to have faced Man City’s Akanji on several occasions and also played with Xherdan Shaqiri at Liverpool.
Sources close to the England training camp say the penalty takers were chosen by Southgate and his coaching staff, and the players were not given a choice.
Saturday’s victory was the England team’s third penalty shootout win in the last eight years under Southgate, having won just one of their previous seven major tournament matches.
Fans have speculated about the identity of the player Alexander-Arnold was referring to
The 25-year-old scored the decisive penalty to complete a perfect penalty haul for England
The Three Lions have now won three of their four penalty shoot-outs under Gareth Southgate
The only defeat in recent history came in the 2020 European Championship final against Italy at Wembley.
England return to action on Wednesday when they take on the Netherlands in the semi-finals. On Saturday night, Ronald Koeman’s team came from behind to beat Turkey 2-1.