EXTRA time was 13 minutes old when the perspiration started forming on my forehead, writes JON MURRAY.

I'd scanned across the pitch of a game that seemed destined to remain deadlocked, and I could see only four England penalty takers.

The names of Shearer, Owen, Ince and Merson had ticks against them but I'd put crosses against Adams, Neville, Campbell, Seaman and Batty and two crosses, larger than the rest, next to Southgate.

So I bet I wasn't the only one to let out a deep groan when Brian Moore declared: "And now our fifth penalty taker is . . . David Batty."

Nothing against the guy but, like Pearce and Southgate, villains of '90 and '96, here we had a player taking the most important penalty in his nation's history who, well, not only wasn't he a goal machine, once again he wasn't even a striker.

And no, it's not just condemnation with the benefit of hindsight.

Before Batty strode up, my wife was saying: "It's the same old story. They never learn. Why don't they put their best penalty takers last?"

Now my wife knows as much about football as I know about transcendental meditation but, being German, she does have some understanding of the old Elf Meter spectacle.

Of course, one of our spot kick experts would have been Beckham. But . . . the silly sod. He must have been thinking, as he lay there face down, that the dark long-haired creature at his side was Posh, the way he flicked out to try to get his leg over.

She ain't going to invite him back to Mummy and Daddy's now.

It's all so cruel. Michael Owen deserved much better. Goal of the tournament, in a fantastic first half.

I agreed with Terry Venables, though, that Owen's pen was iffy at best. And if only Scholes had made it 3-1.

If only. If only.

Same old story.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.