image: soccernet.com

Brave performance? Check. Tears? Check. Lost on penalties? Check, check and double check.

England exit on penalties for the fifth time in my lifetime. Italia '90 was heartbreaking, but at the time it was just a one off. It was almost romantic, with Gazza crying and Waddle skying his penalty. When it happened again in Euro 96, there was a feeling of "how unlucky can we be". Gareth Southgate was distraught, but we all laughed when he got a Pizza Hut advert out of it. And there's Waddle with a cameo!

When it happened a third time in France 1998, it definitely stopped being funny. No Pizza Hut adverts for David Batty. Seems you can only sell so many pizzas with failed penalty takers. And when it happened a fourth time in 2004, it started to feel like a curse. When that game went to penalties there was a definite feeling that "it was our turn", but it wasn't. Darius Vassell's did the crying this time.

After this fresh disappointment, the question we have to ask is how? How have England exited five tournaments in sixteen years in the same way?