Seaman - We're already practising penalties

David Seaman has admitted that England are already preparing themselves for beyond the group stages of the World Cup by religiously practising penalties in case they are involved in a shoot-out.

The Arsenal goalkeeper revealed that the players were even imitating the walk from the centre circle to the penalty spot to put them in the best frame of mind possible for such a scenario arising.

It is in sharp contrast to the attitude displayed towards spot-kicks by then England coach Glenn Hoddle during the 1998 World Cup when his side lost on penalties to Argentina in the second round.

Hoddle has since claimed that ‘‘practising (penalties) until kingdom come isn’t necessarily the answer. In fact, it might just make matters worse‘‘.

Penalties will decide deadlocked matches after extra-time from the second round onwards and England have a sorry record in shoot-outs.

They lost the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup and the 1996 European Championships on penalties plus that meeting with the Argentinians in St Etienne during France 98.

Seaman said: ‘‘We have been practising penalties. We have even been walking from the centre circle to the penalty area to try and re-create what happens in an actual shoot-out.

‘‘It is rather quite pleasing to say that the lads have been scoring a hell of a lot of penalties.

‘‘But that’s as far as you can go in trying to be realistic because it is a bit different when there are a few million people watching. No-one can recreate the pressure that is on in that kind of situation.’’

Seaman admitted he will relish taking part in such a shoot-out if England can recover from their uninspiring 1-1 draw with Sweden and collect sufficient points against Argentina on Friday and Nigeria to qualify.

He said: ‘‘I will certainly be looking forward to it. As a goalkeeper, it’s a chance of glory. It’s the nearest feeling I’ll ever get to what a striker feels when he scores a goal.’’

Meanwhile, Seaman will be doing his homework to try and ensure that he and England are not caught out by the unexpected when they face the Argentinians.

Seaman can still vividly recall how England led 2-1 in their last World Cup meeting with Argentina four years ago only for glory to be snatched away from them by a cleverly worked free-kick which led to Javier Zanetti equalising.

That superbly crafted set piece has tended to be forgotten through the mists of time with David Beckham’s sending-off and England losing on penalties the factors that stick in most people’s memory.

Seaman knows just how crucial it could be to stop something similar to Zanetti’s goal happening at the Sapporo Dome if England are to have a realistic chance of securing a positive result.

Seaman said: ‘‘We have a look at the video two or three days before a game and what you are looking for is if they do anything out of the ordinary.

‘‘You can normally cope with people who try to clip the ball over the defensive wall or try and bend it.

‘‘It’s just anything out of the ordinary that you have got to be aware of - like the free-kick we got done by against Argentina in 1998 which made it 2-2.

‘‘I’ve never seen anything like that before and to be fair to Argentina they worked the whole move very well.

‘‘But it is all about trying to find out little things like that so that you can be as prepared as you possibly can.’’