It wasn’t achieved in convincing fashion, but here are the facts: England were unbeaten and topped the group with five points and two clean sheets – and it’s quite handy that we have avoided France, Spain, Portugal and host nation Germany in the other half of the draw. I’m writing this on Tuesday evening, after England’s final group game, and I don’t yet know who our opponents will be on Sunday in Gelsenkirchen. As things stand, the Netherlands are among the nations we could play next.
That would no doubt prompt a pre-match rerun of our famous 4-1 win at Wembley during Euro 96, against a Guus Hiddink team that included Dennis Bergkamp. Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham scored two each for England in one of our best ever tournament performances, under the watchful eye of Terry Venables, one of England’s greatest-ever managers. Whoever our last 16 opponents on Sunday are, we will already know who the winner of that game will play in the quarter-finals before kick-off, with Switzerland taking on Italy - the reigning champions and England’s conquerors in the final last time round - in Saturday’s first round of 16 game.
Will it be a chance for revenge against Italy in the last eight? Possibly, but the aim is very much one game at a time and, whoever England face on Sunday, we will almost certainly need to see a better display than we did for the first hour or so against Slovenia to make it that far. England improved following the introduction of Cole Palmer on Tu.