It wouldn't be a major international tournament without England fans overhyping the team and convincing themselves the years of hurt were finally about to come to an end.
In fairness, when you look at the attacking talents at Gareth Southgate's disposal it's difficult to argue with such a theory, but decent forwards alone won't win you tournaments.
The competence of the Three Lions' backline has been the elephant in the room for a number of years now.
The likes of John Stones and Kyle Walker can both look quality defenders on their day, though equally both have proven themselves to be incapable of stringing a run of performances together free of errors.
Jordan Pickford is no different and so it's perhaps no surprise that the topic of who should don England's number one jersey at Euro 2020 was discussed with regularity in the build-up to the tournament.
Talk of Nick Pope (prior to his injury) and Dean Henderson circulated for a while, yet in the back of our minds we all knew Southgate was going to stay faithful to Pickford and, so far, the Everton man hasn't put a foot wrong.
Critics will claim Pickford hasn't really been tested and therefore it's a bit premature to be singing his praises - a totally fair comment considering he's saved just five shots in three games - but goalkeeping coaches will often tell you the hardest part of cementing your place as a top team's number one goalkeeper is maintaining concentration.
If you're having balls pumped into the box and shots fired at you every few minutes means you're constantly on your toes, but when you spend much of the game as a passenger you're far more open to silly lapses in concentration - an aspect of Pickford's game that's caused his position as England's number one to be called into question.
So far the Toffees shot-stopper has made no such errors, while the few shots he has been tasked with saving have been dealt with comfortably.
Pickford is by no means a bad goalkeeper, yet it's no secret that he's Southgate's preferred choice because of his ability with the ball at his feet.
This doesn't sit well with some football fans and, to be totally honest, we completely see their point - you pick the goalkeeper who stops the ball going into the net to put it in layman's terms, right?
However, the Three Lions face old foes Germany at Wembley on Tuesday and Pickford's ball-playing skills could prove to be a key asset.
First of all, with the work rate of Thomas Muller and the pace of Serge Gnabry expected to be in Germany's front three, the England goalkeeper is likely to be put under a lot of pressure whenever the ball is played into him. The last thing you want is someone who panics on the ball and is likely to make a mess of it as soon as the forwards apply any pressure.
Secondly, one of Die Mannschaft's main strengths is their progressive wing-backs, with their best display of the tournament so far coming against Portugal when Joshua Kimmich and Robin Gosens basically ran the show.
Said style of play obviously has its pitfalls, one of which being they'll leave a lot of space in behind them on the wings. If England can get the ball forward to their rapid widemen fast enough, veteran German defender Mats Hummels could be left exposed.
Suddenly, Pickford's distribution could be the key to the game if he can release Raheem Sterling and co. while Kimmich and Gosens are still upfield - we've always like these ball-playing goalkeepers.
Talk of Pickford's distribution is all well and good, but first and foremost his job is to keep a clean sheet, and given his performances at Euro 2020 so far we so no reason why he can't do that against Germany on Tuesday.
Source : 90min