Makes you wonder why we made so much fuss about playing Germany, now they've turned out to be useless.
Everyone's useless once England have beaten them. Croatia are useless, too, apparently. World Cup finalists in 2018, but useless once England overcame them this summer.
There is a certain type of football aficionado that always surfaces at this point in any competition. Doom-laden, grudgeful, negative, wrong.
And to these people, England never beat a good team. England cannot win, unless they do win. And if they do win, it's always the work of the opposition.
England's run at Euro 2020 is being dismissed by some who are disrespecting the opposition
It was the same in 1996. England 4 Holland 1. The worst Holland team in living memory. Riven with internal strife — much like France were at this tournament. Yet when Switzerland eliminated France on penalties, nobody decried that achievement on the grounds of divisions in the camp.
The Holland team who England defeated in 1996 had knocked England out of the World Cup qualifiers little more than two years earlier and were only removed from that tournament at the quarter-final stage, 3-2, by the eventual winners, Brazil.
In the 1998 edition they lost the semi-final on penalties, also to Brazil, having defeated Argentina in the quarter-finals. Yet, between, when England outplayed them: useless.
Terry Venables used to wonder why, whenever England defeated a leading team in a friendly, it was always because the match wasn't important and the opposition didn't try, but the same excuse was never advanced for England in defeat.
With knee-jerk social media reactions increasingly cheapening public discourse, this malaise has now spread to competitive matches. Here's a cross-section of opinion from Sportsmail's website. 'Still not played a top side... the worst German team since 1962... easy route... worst German team in history... AFC Wimbledon would have made the semis... we haven't beaten anyone ranked above us...'
And, yes, there are a lot of people who know nothing about football. It's a bit hard to beat the teams ranked above you when two, Belgium and France, are already out and the other one is Brazil and this is the European Championship.
As for Germany in 1962, they had a 100 per cent record in qualifying then topped a World Cup group that included Italy and lost in the quarter-finals to a Yugoslavian goal scored five minutes from time. Then again, the current Germany team — the worst in history, remember — put four past Portugal and their starting XI against England included the winners of 36 Bundesliga titles, five World Cups, 13 Champions League titles, eight UEFA Super League titles, 11 Club World Cups, two La Liga titles and the Europa League.
It's pointless detailing the domestic cup competitions because we wouldn't have room on the page but Thomas Muller alone has 12 — and a World Cup Golden Boot. So those other Germany teams must have been pretty good, if this is the nadir.
It is foolish to describe Germany as 'useless' only once they have been beaten by England
Given that England had not beaten Germany or Portugal in a tournament knockout game since 1966, or France in a tournament since 1982, and that the route to the final looked to pit Gareth Southgate's players against one of those three opponents in the last-16, what was par for England at this tournament? Here's a clue. It wasn't the semi-finals.
If England had performed to precedent in this competition, they would have been out a week ago. Only a fool thinks this is an easy route for a country that has this century lost to Croatia, Iceland, Romania and Uruguay. Weren't they easy routes, too, then? The truth is, England haven't got such a storied record that any path can be taken lightly. Indeed, the whole definition of ease has been rewritten in recent decades.
Belgium lost to Wales, Brazil to Belgium, South Korea dispatched Italy and Spain. Only a patronising fool looks at Denmark and thinks plain sailing on Wednesday.
In their desperation to decry the advancement under Southgate — possibly because they cannot admit they were wrong about him — some are treating England's opponents with enormous disrespect.
Southgate is the first England manager in 53 years to make the last four of consecutive major tournaments. The previous one was Sir Alf Ramsey in 1966 and 1968.
And how did England reach those tournaments? In 1966, they qualified as hosts, and in 1968 they progressed by winning a group combining the 1966-67 and 1967-68 Home International Championship. Scotland won and drew with England, but blew it by losing in Belfast. England then beat Spain in the quarter-finals, which in those days were played across two legs, home and away.
Teams like Ukraine are being treated with enormous disrespect whenever they face England
So all roads to success have their moments of ease and of difficulty. The last winners of the European Championship, Portugal, played Croatia, Poland and Wales in the knockout rounds, having come third in their group behind Hungary and Iceland.
They didn't win a match in 90 minutes until the semi-finals. Tournament football is not a beauty contest. It is about more than simple talent.
Southgate's England have demonstrated resilience and spirit, and each opponent has provided a test in its own way. Comfort against Ukraine should not be confused with ease.
The last two seasons have seen England's quarter-final opponents defeat Portugal, Spain and Switzerland and draw with France in Paris.
Very little comes without strife and Wednesday's semi-final certainly won't. Nobody thinks Denmark are useless right now, but watch the miseries spout if England win.
CAPTURED HIM BEAUTIFULLYLovely tribute to Martin Peters at Kensington Palace. Although God knows why he's wearing earrings.
Looking back, it seems almost charming, the naivety that led Harry Kane to think he could negotiate a way out of Tottenham before the European Championship.
With the club adamant they will not sell, this may be the most drawn-out transfer saga of the summer.
Tottenham's previous form always invites the suspicion that blunt refusal is more a negotiating tactic than a firm stance and Kane will be required to publicly agitate — and Manchester City go way beyond their initial offer — if he is to get his move. His relationship with the supporters will not be left intact, you can be sure of that.
