Midfielder says he has drawn inspiration from teammates Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford
Eberechi Eze has insisted he would not hesitate to take a penalty for England at the World Cup despite his miss in Arsenal’s Champions League final defeat by Paris Saint-Germain.
The attacking midfielder sent his spot-kick wide during Arsenal’s shootout loss in Budapest last month, adding to a mixed record from the penalty spot after misses for Crystal Palace against Liverpool and Newcastle last year.
However, Eze rejected suggestions that he should alter his technique or abandon his preferred stuttering run-up.
“I’m not going to stress too much about it because I know I’m in this position for a reason and all the training behind it,” Eze said. “You have to continue to improve, find new ways to improve.”
The 27-year-old said he would willingly step forward again if required, either for club or country, arguing that setbacks are an unavoidable part of elite football. “If there is a penalty to take then I’ll be there again,” he said. “All the big players have missed big penalties. I’m grateful it happened. I’m going to grow from it, learn from it and move forward.”
Eze’s stance is likely to be welcomed by England, who have invested heavily in improving their record from the spot since the arrival of former manager Gareth Southgate.
England ended decades of shootout frustration when they beat Colombia at the 2018 World Cup and won another knockout shootout against Switzerland at Euro 2024. Their defeat by Italy in the Euro 2020 final, however, remains a defining moment, with Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka among those to miss.
Eze said he had drawn inspiration from the way the two of them responded to disappointment. Saka, who missed in the Euro 2020 final, converted his penalty when England overcame Switzerland in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024.
“You step up, you do what you need to do,” Eze said. “If you miss, you miss. If you score, you score. It’s having the mentality to keep going.”
The midfielder arrives at the tournament following the most successful period of his career. He scored the winning goal as Crystal Palace beat Manchester City in the 2025 FA Cup final before helping Arsenal secure the Premier League title after joining the club last summer.
Eze believes those experiences have strengthened both his confidence and England’s prospects, with several members of the squad arriving in the US having recently won major honours. “It’s important for a player’s confidence to experience winning,” he said. “A lot of players experiencing that is only going to help us here.”
