Stuart Pearce has left nothing to chance in his bid to get England past the psychological barrier of a semi-final.

He also wants a chance to end England's 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 now 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 shoot-outs 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?"

There is a danger of ignoring what goes on during the match.

At Italia 90, Paul Gascoigne was earmarked as a penalty-taker but did not take one as he was too distraught after receiving a yellow card before the shoot-out, ruling him out of the final.

As Pearce knows, that is all part of England's history as nearly men when it comes to penalties - one Swedish newspaper also described the Under-21 coach as a "nearly man" for his own role.

After missing against the Germans in 1990, Pearce then scored against them during Euro 96 but still ended up losing the shoot-out. Both were at the semi-final stage.

"In my brief spell in international football as a player or manager we need to break through a semi-final barrier, that is for sure," Pearce said. "Not only that, we need to go and win something.

"I said two years ago that we have to put foundations down for the senior team in my opinion. If the Under-17s, Under-19s or Under-21s are the first to win something then that sets the foundation for the seniors. That has to be done.

"Spain are a shining example. So are Italy. The success comes from lower down sometimes. Those groups of players can go through together and know what it is like to win together. We want to try to put that marker down."

Pearce's point touches upon England's appalling record in tournaments.

Since winning the Under-21 Championship in 1984, they have been to 64 finals across the age groups and have won just once.

That was in 1993 when an Under-19 side won with Sol Campbell, Paul Scholes, Robbie Fowler and Gary Neville in the team. Darren Caskey scored the winner in the final.

"We have not been good enough," Pearce said. "Not good enough game management coming in to tournaments, we have lost too many players through injury and suspension. We continually play on high revs, like we do in England.

"In major tournaments you have to mix up your style of play to make sure your players are fresh and fit and available in the latter stages. That is the tip of the iceberg.

"We are aware of it. If the stat is one win in 25 years then that is not good enough and we have to rectify that in the future."

Pearce suffered disappointment at Euro 92 in Sweden when England failed to make it out of the group stage, but he hopes his players' big-game experience will see them through.

"There is a lot of maturity and a lot of our players have played a lot of our big matches," he said. "Kieran Gibbs has played in two Champions League semi-finals.

"Michael Mancienne has been involved in a cup final, Jack Rodwell has been to a cup final. They are used to dealing with the pressure of these games."

For Pearce, only triumph in the final will satisfy.

"I can't face coming away from here with defeat and being happy with that," he said. "My personality won't accept that. That will be the same if we go to the final."

Meanwhile, Pearce 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."