Anybody who takes a World Cup penalty is one of bravest people on the pitch | Paul Parker

Paul Parker watched team-mates Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle miss from the spot in 1990 World Cup semi-final and he feared for Eric Dier in the shootout against Colombia

I have to say I was nervous when Eric Dier stepped up to take England’s fifth penalty as he hadn’t had the best game until then after coming on as a substitute against Colombia. But when he scored and England were through to the quarter-finals that way I celebrated, for sure.

Anybody who takes a penalty is one of the bravest people on the pitch. When our World Cup semi-final went to penalties against West Germany in 1990 the first thing I was thinking was: ‘I hope I don’t have to take one.’ I was concerned with crossing the halfway line, never mind taking penalties, at that time. There was no pre-plan of who would take the kicks for us from Sir Bobby Robson. You knew the ones who definitely would – Gary Lineker was always going to be our banker – and after that I think it was a case of who wanted to take one. It got down to there being one place left and while Chris Waddle didn’t really want to take it he put his hand up.

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