After England had turned in yet another "woeful" performance against Slovakia in the last 16 of Euro 2024, Gary Neville called on manager Gareth Southgate to implement a drastic change in approach.
"Getting over the line and winning is all-important in tournaments," the former defender said on BBC Sport, "but it's unrealistic to think you can go through a month of a tournament playing like we are, and get through to [the final]."
Unfortunately, Neville was wrong. England are now just one win away from the tournament-decider in Berlin, after another horror-show against Switzerland in which they once again managed to force us neutrals to endure 30 more minutes of mediocrity by scoring late on with their first shot on target.
Worse, still, France are also still in the running - despite being incapable of scoring goals from open play. Just like England, they are far less than the sum of their parts because of the debilitating negativity of their coach, making them even more difficult to watch.
Netherlands have been easier on the eye, at least at times, but were it not for the Euros' ludicrous format, Ronald Koeman & Co. would already be out, having finished third in their group. Truth be told, they barely would have been missed. This is not a vintage Dutch side steeped in the country's proud history of Total Football.
The onus, then, is on Spain to save a tedious tournament that has done little other than hammer home the fact that football is suffering from a self-inflicted crisis of quality.