STUART Pearce has left nothing to chance in his bid to get England past the psychological barrier of a semi-final and closer to ending an abysmal record in tournaments.

Pearce has experience of bowing out at the last-four stage on penalties twice as a player, and two years ago as a coach, and this evening his Under-21 side face hosts Sweden looking for a place in the final of their European Championships.

If it is level after 120 minutes at Gothenburg’s Gamla Ullevi, Pearce hopes shootouts after each training session will give his youngsters the advantage over a Swedish side who apparently have not been practising.

Each player has been given a ranking and will take them in order, rather than being given the choice of whether they feel mentally up for it.

‘‘I will have a list of one to 23 penalty takers,’’ he said. ‘‘I know the order which we take penalties. The only thing in doubt is the 11 on the pitch at that stage.

‘‘We have analysed the direction in which players take penalties, which is the most successful way for each of our players, the success rate of those players, and obviously the goalkeeper’s technique in saving penalties.

‘‘We have spent two years working on those lessons.

From years gone by the one thing that comes out is that when a manager walked out to the centre circle they had no idea who his best penalty takers were. He would ask who fancies it. That is not exactly a precise science, is it?’’ Meanwhile, Pearce has played down any rift over Theo Walcott being angry at his lack of action at the finals.

Pearce also hinted at having long-term ambitions at the Football Association when he added: ‘‘I will have a working relationship with him for maybe 15 years as a manager, a coach or whatever it may be. I look forward to working with him.’’