I suspect that they could have practiced - and attempted to replicate conditions of stress, exhaustion, and the experience of feeling that you have legs of lead - a bit more.
Well, the contrast with the way England used to shrug and stumble and inevitably fail when a game went to penalties, citing fate and fatigue - as Southgate (the player) well knew to his personal cost - and how Southgate himself as manager addressed that by having his teams practice taking penalties - and having his teams role-playing this regularly, including that long and lonely walk from the centre circle - at the end of training sessions, when they were tired, was - to my mind - amply proven by how (well) his teams have (since) fared when matches went to penalties.
The attitude that this is all in the hands of fate is far too common, even at elite level in football - and penalties - unlike the rest of a game - are a test of individual character (how do you - as an individual - cope with this stress, the long and lonely walk from the half way line, the focus, - do you have an actual plan of where you plan to place that ball, have you studied how that goalkeeper responds, which way he favours when he dives - if any - etc).
Having said that, France did very well to come back twice, and, to my mind, Mbappe has shown his genuine class and talent and worth. (As has Messi, unfortunately).
