England not only progressed to the last 16 as group winners on Tuesday night but, through a strange twist of fate, have ended up with an unexpectedly easy route towards the final (again).
Just as was the case in 2020, England are separated from virtually all of the tournament favourites until the final, with Spain, Germany, Portugal and most notably France all finding themselves on the opposite side of the draw.
It is a better situation than England could possibly have dreamt of, especially given the lacklustre nature of their performances across their three group games thus far.
This European Championship, then, feels very similar to the last for Gareth Southgate's side. That tournament, too, opened with a tight win over a Slavic country, before a dour draw in their second game.
In Euro 2020, too, they ended up with a relatively straightforward route to the final having failed to impress at any point during the group stage.
Something is different this time, however, with more fundamental flaws in the England setup seeing the team totally imbalanced and incapable of creating consistent chances in any of their three games thus far.
Not only is the attack misfiring, but the setup from back to front has players out of position, clashing in ideas, and stunting buildup with their ill-advised tendencies (we're looking directly at you, Kieran Trippier's right foot).
Though the route to the final may appear navigable on paper, Harry Kane's comments post-match on Tuesday were an insight into the fact England know they may be in trouble.
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Harry Kane interview shows issues with England mentality
Harry Kane may have scored one of England's only two goals thus far at these Euros but even he has not been above criticism from the English media circus.
The Bayern Munich striker is England's highest goalscorer of all time but has been below his normal level in these championships thus far.
After being criticised by Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer in the reaction to last week's draw against Denmark, Kane came out firing - as did several of the English players, who sought to shut down the media criticism they have faced over the past few days.
Their performance on Tuesday night will have done little to dispel concerns about this England team - nor will Harry Kane's interview post-match.
He spoke to ITV's Gabriel Clarke shortly after the final whistle in Cologne and was asked where England needed to improve in the knockout stages.
Look, these games are tough, these games are really, really tough.
We've been here before, we've been in to the knockouts and we've stepped it up in the knockouts in the past tournaments when we've got there.
Hopefully we can do the same but whoever we get in the next round is going to be a difficult game. It might take extra-time, it might take penalties, that's the reality of this tournament.
It's going to be a difficult challenge ahead but we have more than enough ability in this team to keep pushing. We just look forward to the next round now.
We will not fall foul of making the obvious joke about England's complicated relationship with penalty shootouts, tempting though it may be.
Rather, Kane's default to suggest England could need penalties to see out the task at hand as early as the last 16 is an eye-opening glimpse into where the mentality of this team is at.
There is a roughly 50-50 chance that England will face a struggling Netherlands side in the next round - otherwise, they will face the third-placed team from the group containing Belgium, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine.
Even with the attack misfiring, England would still be heavily favoured to progress against any of those opponents. Do Kane's comments really suggest this is a squad that believes that?
The tendency to get a goal, sit back, and hope for the best has been a tendency of Gareth Southgate's setup for several tournaments now. It cost them against Croatia in 2018 and, far more egregiously, it was inarguably the cause for their defeat in the Euro 2020 final on home soil.
Even without ever taking the lead, they played for extra-time against France in the last World Cup. That may be more defensible, given the level the French team was operating at. But to take that mentality into a last-16 game against a team England should be expected to beat does not reflect well on the confidence levels of this squad.
Let's be fair. Harry Kane's comments came pitchside minutes after a game and were the epitome of a captain or coach trying to give a fair, level-headed, overly comprehensive read of the entire tournament situation. There is of course a chance the "extra-time" comment was made to cover all bases.
But, for a player who came out bullishly defending his and his team's honour earlier this week, they certainly do not scream confidence - something this England team appear totally short of.
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