England's performance does deserve some praise. Panama weren't just given a place alongside the big boys in the same way Andorra, San Marino and Scotland are. They qualified on merit. They weren't even the lowest-ranked team in the competition (though how much you can hang on the FIFA world rankings is very much open for debate). Colombia, for whatever reason, decided they would need a tactical change to beat us. Sweden had put out Italy, demolished Mexico and effectively ended Germany's hopes, but we had them more or less in our pockets. Croatia raised eyebrows in the group stage and people have been touting them as dark horses for a while.
We're not the real deal yet, and anyone living under that delusion will soon get a rude awakening when this new UEFA Nations League kicks off in a few months, but it is at least encouraging. Many expected to watch Euro 2016 through the slits between their fingers and they weren't wrong; it's nice to consider the next major championships with a tinge of excitement instead of dread. In that sense, progress has been made.
When Germany reached the 2002 final, the groundwork was already being laid that would change grass-roots football over there. They weren't ignorant of the fact that they'd staggered through qualifying like drunkards, or the fact that their Euro 2000 campaign was a disaster. If there were any lingering doubts that all was not well, Euro 2004 reminded them. We too need to ward off complacency; the performances of our youth teams has been encouraging but the players need more proper game time, otherwise this will go down as another flash in the pan. Another opportunity gone.