England Under-21s head coach Gareth Southgate has challenged his players to up their game against Italy on Wednesday night with a place in the European Championship semifinals at stake.
This had looked like it could be another summer of strife for the national team, only for Jesse Lingard's late strike against Sweden to secure the Young Lions a somewhat fortuitous 1-0 victory on Sunday.
The display may have lacked fluency but there was no faulting England's character, with those three points meaning they are assured of progress to the last-four should they overcome Italy.
The Azzurrini sit bottom of Group B but Southgate is not being lulled into a false sense of security, highlighting the need for improvement at the Ander Stadium.
"We've got to look at have we created enough clear-cut openings because I don't think we've missed glaring chances at all," he said.
"We have got to make sure the service is right, got to make sure that although we want to dominate progression and dictate games that we're not toothless at the end of it.
"That balance is important for us -- we were five games away at the start, now we're three games away from the opportunity to be European champions.
"How do we get better? Because we will have to be better and that's what we've discussed over the last 24 hours or so."
Southgate is extremely confident that England have more gears to come and believes a place in the June 30 finale in Prague is entirely feasible.
"We're always looking for perfection, always looking to improve, but we recognise this is going to be an Italian team we respect," he said, with Denmark or Germany awaiting at the semifinal juncture.
"They have some individually talented players, they'll have a collective spirit which Italian teams always have.
"They're a big footballing nation so they're not [going] to come and roll over. We're well aware of that, but we have to believe in ourselves and our ability."
Southgate is boosted by the fact he can call upon John Stones for the first time this tournament, while the Olomouc encounter offers three key players the chance to exorcise some demons.
Jack Butland, Nathan Redmond and Nathaniel Chalobah were all part of the Under-21s side that lost to the Azzurrini in the opening game of the last edition of the U21 European Championship two years ago in Israel.
Worse still, it proved the start of a miserable, winless tournament which gives Chalobah even more motivation to succeed.
"It was my first time getting called up to the squad and it was obviously our opening game of the tournament," the Chelsea midfielder said.
"It was disappointing that we lost that game but it always hurts losing.
"Definitely [it helps to motivate me]," he continued. "I mean the last time we played against Italy weren't really good memories for me and the lads.
"But we didn't play as well as we could have last time round and that is something we're looking to put right this time."
