London, May 18 (ANI): Ace midfielder Frank Lampard has insisted he would not shy away from taking spot-kicks during the World Cup finals in South Africa this summer and is determined to be England”s nominated penalty taker.
“Frank Lampard has promised he can beat England”s World Cup penalty curse. England fans would have been left fearing the worst at the sight of the Chelsea star missing a penalty in the FA Cup final at Wembley,” reports Mirror.
“I have missed penalties for England, I have missed penalties for Chelsea and it comes with the territory. But it would not put me off,” said Lampard.
“I am big enough to stand up. I missed [in the final] and it will play on my mind a little, but it will be completely overshadowed by the fact that we won the game and won the Double,” he added.
“It”s quite good for me too because that kind of thing makes me address it and look at it and when I go away with England I will work on that kind of stuff. Sometimes you need a little reminder of what you have got to do,” claimed Lampard.
Despite Lampard missing two penalties for his club this season, he still has an exceptional record from the penalty spot for club and country.
“England, World Cups and penalties do not go well together as Lampard will remember from seeing his spot-kick saved in the shoot-out with Portugal in the 2006 quarter-final defeat. He has not missed for England since being given penalty duties after the last World Cup, scoring four out of four,” reports Mirror.
The midfielder has managed a season”s best tally of 26 goals in 50 games for Chelsea this term and the two missed penalties are unlikely to play on his mind too much.
“It was a disappointing penalty at Wembley to say the least. I actually changed my mind in the run-up, which is a bit of a sin. Once you do that, you are probably going to miss and I did that,” admitted Lampard. (ANI)