When England have gone out of big tournaments in the past its usually been followed up by months of moaning. Going out to pens, player sent off because of a muppet(Beckham) or because he got stitched up(wink) or just a shit show of a performance(2014). "Its a cruel way to go out." theyd say.
However, this England team were beaten fair and square. No daft Refereeing, no piss poor antics from players or opposition just a straight up game where they got beat. Theres usually blame being assigned by this point. A lengthy finger pointing at some poor bastard who takes the full weight of the failure.
Not this time though. This time, it was all positive. Sure, it wasnt the best England team ever, but it was a far cry from the over paid dummies that limped out with 1 point four years ago. Ive given my English friends some stick about inflated expectations, but in the context of now vs four years ago, or the defeat by iceland, its hard to ignore why all the positivity is happening. Yes, it wasnt the hardest route to the semis. No big nations stood in the way with their mighty talisman or unified team of unbeaten warriors, but that shouldnt take away from the fact England got there. And whats more, they can leave with their heads held high that theres been genuine progress made in the national team. There still issues, but on a whole thats a team and not a group of individuals trying to steal headlines. Theres no division behind the scenes corroding performances. Theres no idiot getting sent off being a twat, which I think we can all admit we thought would be Delli. But no, even he pulled his head in and at least appeared to be controlling his usual nonsense.
So yes, it was an easy route. But to focus on that would be to miss the point of whats actually getting people excited. Football might not be coming home, but at least a national team you can be proud of is.