It’s all gone quiet over here after group encounters proved highlight

The dejection may not have been as marked as past tournaments thanks to the low expectations that had accompanied Roy Hodgson’s England squad to Ukraine and Poland. Nor has there been the usual bout of navel-gazing among supporters, who this time around met our exit with little more than a shrug of the shoulders and a hope that the 2014 World Cup might just be different.

But, even so, it has been noticeable how little conversation there has been about the Euros over the past week compared to the few days between the win over Ukraine by the Three Lions and the quarter-final meeting with the Italians.

It is perhaps to be expected, particularly in an age when many only seem able to get pleasure from watching their team win as opposed to merely watching them play.

What this drop off in interest may also reveal is that once Euro 2012 reached the quarter-finals, it wasn’t actually all that good.

Even allowing for the drama of the penalty shootouts that accounted for not only England but also Europe’s biggest prima donna and his Portuguese team-mates, the knockout stages were hardly the thrill-a-minute affair we had been expecting.

Germany may have put four goals past Greece to reach the last four but the game itself was hardly one to set the pulse racing. Neither was Spain’s two-goal win over France or the Czech Republic’s lame exit against Portugal.

And the less said about our own quarter-final against Italy, which was perhaps best summed up by Andre Pirlio when he told his country’s media: “It’s just a shame we took so long to beat them and used up a lot of energy.”

The best team won, in the end. They invariably do. But Euro 2012 was still a tournament of two halves with the group stage by far the most enjoyable thanks to all 16 competing nations – yes, even the Irish – playing their part.

Group A, despite looking on paper the least exciting of the four, turned out to be a thriller as the Czechs somehow fought back from losing 4-1 in their opening fixture to finish top.

They were accompanied into the last eight by Greece, who ended Russian hopes of glory with an unexpected 1-0 win in Warsaw as joint hosts Poland also crashed out.

Group B was another that kept supporters guessing until the end. Germany may have gone through with the only 100 per cent winning record but had Denmark scored and not Lars Bender with 10 minutes of the final game remaining, it would have meant an early exit for Joachim Low’s side with the Scandinavians going through.

The fare was similarly enjoyable in Groups C and D, where there were plenty of twists and turns before the final places went to form as Spain, Italy, England and France went through.

What a shame, therefore, that UEFA are pressing ahead with plans that are likely to erode the quality of the group stages. Twenty-four teams as opposed to 16 will qualify for the Championships, meaning the quality will be diluted markedly not only once the finals get under way in France but also during qualifying due to almost half of the 53 competing nations going through.

Money has clearly spoken but it is difficult not to believe that UEFA will come to regret their decision.

As for England, whose exit eight days ago brought an abrupt end to the Championships in many households, there were moments to admire.

The comeback win against Sweden, for instance, was one to behold. Seeing off Ukraine was also enjoyable, not least because you just knew the ‘goal that never was’ by Oleg Blokhin’s side will have pained Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter almost as much as the hosts.

Hearing Blatter, who like his UEFA counterpart has done little to hide his animosity towards English football down the years, call for the introduction of goal-line technology the following morning was almost as much fun as Wayne Rooney’s winner.

For all the talk, however, of a corner being turned by England, there is still plenty to do with only the hapless Republic of Ireland and unfancied Greece enjoying less possession at the Championships than the 39 per cent Hodgson’s men managed.

The Three Lions also had less attempts on goal than Cristiano Ronaldo and made fewer passes than Russia and Greece, who both went out in the group stage so played two hours less.

Clearly, therefore, plenty to work on, though the fear has to be that Hodgson’s natural conservatism is always likely to get the better of him in major tournaments – meaning we can merely expect to see more of the same come Brazil in two years.