Former England striker Michael Owen claims the Three Lions would have enjoyed more success in penalty shoot-outs if they had substituted their goalkeeper before the spot kicks started.
Holland secured safe passage to the World Cup semi-finals last night after holding their nerve from 12 yards out against Costa Rica, who managed to keep the game goalless for 120 minutes.
Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal raised eyebrows when he replaced first-choice shot-stopper Jasper Cillessen with Newcastle United’s Tim Krul just seconds before the final whistle.
The decision was justified as the Magpies man saved two penalties and, after seeing his team-mates successfully convert all of their attempts, victory was in the bag.
They come up against Argentina in the last four on Wednesday night to compete for a place in Sunday’s final.
Owen, who played for England between 1998 and 2008, wrote on his Sportlobster blog that the national side would have had more joy if they had deployed the same tactic.
He said: “Sensible move by LVG to bring Krul on last night. I didn’t have him down as a great penalty saver but when a manager does that, the confidence it injects into you is huge.
“I can think of a couple of occasions when England may have progressed via penalties had our manager made a similar decision. Starting way back in 1990.”