STEVEN GERRARD insists he will be ready to take a penalty for England if called upon.

The Liverpool and England captain has not ruled out being involved in a penalty shoot-out at some point during the World Cup.

With Germany next up for Fabio Capello’s side in Sunday’s last 16 clash in Bloemfontein, history suggests that could be sooner rather than later.

England were knocked out of the 1990 World Cup and the 1996 European Championships semi-finals by Germany on penalties.

Gerrard also suffered personal penalty disappointment four years ago when he missed from 12 yards as England again lost a shoot-out, this time to Portugal, at the quarter-final stage of the World Cup in Germany.

That hasn’t deterred the midfielder, however, who says he will put himself forward should England find themselves in another stalemate after extra-time.

“I’ve got a feeling we might have to go to penalties at some point,” said Gerrard.

“As a player at a World Cup, you’ve got to be prepared for a shoot-out. It’s as simple as that.

“We’re in the last 16 and the games, when you get further into a tournament are so tight. Hopefully we get a bit more luck this time and I take a better penalty.”

England’s shoot-out woe is the opposite of Gerrard’s experience at club level where he has enjoyed considerable success.

Liverpool lifted the Worthington Cup, Champions League trophy and FA Cup after penalties against Birmingham, AC Milan and West Ham respectively, and also reached the 2007 Champions League final by way of a semi-final shootout over Chelsea at Anfield.

Gerrard reveals Capello has had England practising penalties but says it is totally different to the real thing.

“When you practice penalties in training you pick a ball up and shoot within a few seconds.

“But in the World Cup it’s a 30-second walk from the halfway line when you’ve got millions and millions of viewers back home wanting you to score? You can’t prepare for that.

“But what you can do is be ready and not shy away from it and have the bottle to step up there for another go, especially when you’ve missed one before.

“All I can say is I’ll be ready. It is massive pressure. I didn’t handle it in 2006.

“If I’m put in that situation again I will try and deal with the pressure a lot better.