THIS isn’t a sentence I expected to type at the latter end of the group stages – but perhaps England can learn something from the Scots?

At time of writing, we don’t know which of France/Germany/Portugal will provide second round opposition for Gareth Southgate’s men next week, but we are confident there is not enough football luck in the world to make it the Hungarians.

Edit: It's the Germans, of course it's the Germans...

Scotland, meanwhile, will be checking out of their hotel in Darlington after defeat to Croatia made it another fruitless tournament. Presumably, Billy Gilmour will still see out his self-isolation and have great fun racking up the room service bill in his team’s absence.

If you had looked around the various columns, interviews and opinion pieces on both sides of Hadrian’s Wall on Wednesday morning you would be hard-pressed to pick which side were packing their bags, and which one was proudly filling in their wallchart on a flat surface with their best biro.

The rhetoric from the Scotland camp was all about this being “the start of the journey” and vowing that it would not be 23 years before the Tartan Army could march again on a major international tournament.

England’s players smiled politely, talked about getting the job done, but neither they nor us are fooled into thinking we have seen the team play at anything like their best, so far.

According to Opta Stats, England have progressed the ball up the pitch 0.98 metres per second in open play, which is slower than anyone else at Euro 2020. Coupled with that, they have conceded just once in their last nine games – a run unmatched since 1989.

England have also won four games 1-0 this season, all of which have been in June. They have only once managed five in a calendar year and that was in 1990, including Mark Wright’s header against Egypt and David Platt’s volley against Belgium at the World Cup finals in Italy.

The most binary national team of a generation is also dividing opinion. Many applaud Southgate for being pragmatic and playing a style of football that favour effectiveness over unpredictability, calmness over drama. Some, like me, just wish we had whacked a couple more goals in against the Czechs so that the next time I hear Three Lions I don’t sarcastically reply: “But it’s not, is it?”

Maybe the Scottish players have got it right? Maybe England should be viewing this as the starting point for a more matured and composed team in Qatar next winter?

Perhaps Southgate’s plan is exactly what the doctor called for and England will grind their way to the latter stages a la Denmark 1992 or Greece 2004, having conserved their energy and without ever really impressing anyone?

Some of the most attractive and impressive teams in history never managed to lift the trophy – Netherlands 1978, Brazil 1982, Brazil, Belgium or France in 1986, Argentina in 1998 or 2010, Spain – pretty much any tournament before they finally managed to win one. They burned fast, burned brightly, but they ended up as also rans.

Slow and steady might win the race, or at least get us a little bit closer to the finishing line, but the highlights reel is going to be a blighter to put together if both Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka are plonked back on the bench for the second round.

Of the 24 nations involved this summer – and before the final round of games - England are placed 19th for shots on target, registering a miserly total of five in three games. They have hit the post twice, through John Stones and Raheem Sterling, but the Three Lions have somehow managed fewer shots on goal than Russia and Ukraine, two teams who genuinely underwhelmed in the groups.

It sounds daft to even suggest it but Southgate’s side could edge past their next two opponents 1-0 and go into a semi-final in front of 60,000 supporters at Wembley and still get booed with the wrong result and/or performance. That thought alone should make us all cheer up a bit.

Now, where did I put that copy of Yes Sir, I Can Boogie?