England goalkeeper David James is “100 per cent confident” the team will be prepared in the event of a penalty shoot-out at this summer’s World Cup.

England have been knocked out of the 1990, 1998 and 2006 World Cups on penalties, and were also eliminated in the same fashion from Euro 96 and Euro 2004.

That dreadful record understandably makes England supporters nervous about what might happen in the knockout stages in South Africa, but James insists national team boss Fabio Capello will leave nothing to chance.

James said: “If it gets to the knockout stages and there’s the potential for penalty shoot-outs, I’m 100 per cent confident everyone will be well versed, especially the goalkeepers, in what we’re going to be up against.

“In Fabio Capello you’ve got a manager that’s left no stone unturned, he will have analysed what we need to do and I’m confident that England will do what is required and if it’s from the penalty spot we’ll have a good campaign whatever.”

England assistant boss Stuart Pearce, who missed a crucial shoot-out kick in the World Cup semi-final against West Germany in 1990 but then scored penalties against Spain and Germany in Euro 96, insists luck will not come into it.

Pearce said: “That’s not luck, it’s not in the fate of the gods as people try to tell you, it’s preparation.”

Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson revealed the effect a missed penalty had on one of his players in the defeat to Portugal at Euro 2004.

“He was so upset he didn’t want to go back to England. After that I had to force him back, he was crying,” the Swede said.