England Women have allowed the nation to dream again, as Sarina Wiegman's free-scoring Lionesses will travel to Wembley on Sunday for a shot at glory in the final of Women's Euro 2022.
Standing in their way is a Germany Women side who have won this honour on no fewer than eight occasions, but the Lionesses are now the second senior England team in the space of 12 months to reach the final of a major continental competition.
Gareth Southgate's men's side were agonisingly close to Euro 2020 glory last year before the dreaded penalty shootout went Italy's way, but the women's side are no strangers to disappointment in showpiece events either.
Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at the record of England's senior men's and women's sides in major finals ahead of Sunday's historic battle.
1966 World Cup final - West Germany 2-4 England
By the time Sunday rolls around, it will have been 56 years and one day since an England side won their first major tournament at the old Wembley Stadium, and Alf Ramsey's luminaries are there for all to admire.
Similarly, a robust West Germany side stood in England's way of the Jules Rimet trophy, and the visitors took just 12 minutes to open the scoring through Helmut Haller.
Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters responded for England before Wolfgang Weber made it 2-2 in the 89th minute to force extra time, where Hurst and commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme would take centre stage.
The Three Lions' third goal will remain forever shrouded in controversy after recent analysis showed that only 97% of the ball crossed the line, but with no goal-line technology to come to the Germans' aid, England were ahead.
Wolstenholme's iconic "They think it's all over, it is now!" line was spoken as Hurst completed his hat-trick in the 118th minute to confirm England's status as world champions, and the nation are long-overdue for a new set of footballing heroes.
1984 Women's European Championship - Sweden 1-1 England - Sweden win 4-3 on penalties
The inaugural edition of the Women's European Championship took place in the same year that the men were competing in France, as the Three Lions failed to qualify for the final tournament.
However, Martin Reagan's Lionesses progressed to the final of the women's tournament and were rewarded for their efforts with a two-legged final against Sweden, the second game of which was played in abhorrent conditions at Luton Town's Kenilworth Road.
Sweden hosted England in Gothenburg for the first leg, where a goal from top scorer Pia Sundhage - who now manages Brazil - gave the Scandinavian side a 1-0 advantage at half-time in the tie.
On a rain-soaked, sticky and muddy pitch at Kenilworth Road, England hit back through Linda Curl to force penalties, but Curl then went from hero to zero as she missed the Lionesses' first spot kick.
Helen Bjork failed to convert for Sweden to give England a glimmer of hope, but Lorraine Hanson then fluffed her lines from 12 yards, allowing Sundhage to lash home the winning penalty for Sweden.
2009 Women's Euros - England 2-6 Germany
A plethora of household names were on show when England once again did battle with Germany in a major tournament final, this time in the showpiece event of the 2009 Women's Euros.
The likes of Alex Scott and Karen Carney were in the ranks of Hope Powell as the Lionesses stepped out onto Helsinki's Olympic Stadium turf, but a drubbing in Germany's favour soon occurred.
Carney and Kelly Smith managed to find the back of the net for England on the day, but Germany fired in a whopping six goals of their own - including a brace from Inka Grings - to win yet another continental crown.
Grings's pair of strikes in the final took her up to six goals for the tournament, but her record has now been matched by England's Beth Mead, who will endeavour to become the outright highest goalscorer in a single edition of the Women's Euros at Wembley.
Euro 2020 - England 1-1 Italy - Italy win 3-2 on penalties
A final that will be remembered for the right reasons but also for the wrong ones, Gareth Southgate's England crop were bellowing out Sweet Caroline at full volume all the way to the Euro 2020 showpiece event.
Germany were no match for the Three Lions, Ukraine were brushed aside with ease and a resilient Denmark side were also shown the door, but much of the pre-match talk centred around the disgraceful scenes of crowd disorder outside Wembley.
Once the action on the field got underway, Luke Shaw scored the quickest ever goal in the final of the Euros - taking just 116 seconds to find the back of the net - which was also his first-ever strike for the Three Lions.
The old guard of Italy kept their experienced heads calm, and it was soon Leonardo Bonucci's term to write his name in the record books, as the Juventus centre-back tapped home the equaliser in minute 67, seeing him become the oldest Euros final goalscorer at 34 years and 71 days.
In the penalty shootout, Jordan Pickford's heroics came into play as he saved from Andrea Belotti and Jorginho, but Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho's failed attempts meant that football did not come home in 2021 - whether it can in 2022 remains to be seen.
body check tags ::
