IT could have been France or Portugal, and for a while, it looked like it might even end up being Hungary. Let’s be honest, though, for all the toing and froing on the final night of the group stage of Euro 2020, when it came to settling on the identity of England’s opponents in the last 16, it was only ever going to end one way. It wouldn’t be a tournament on home soil without a seismic showdown with Germany somewhere along the way.

Memories of 1966 and 1996 come flooding back immediately, and will inevitably dominate the pre-match build-up over the course of the next few days. Geoff Hurst, Russian linesmen, ‘They think it’s all over, it is now’. Gareth Southgate, missed penalties, ‘Thirty years of hurt’. The good, the bad, and the history of English football distilled into two unforgettable matches.

There have been other installments in the long-running saga to sustain the narrative of course, from Chris Waddle and Stuart Pearce’s missed penalties in 1990 through Alan Shearer’s headed winner in the group stage of Euro 2000 and on to Mezut Ozil’s midfield artistry as England were dismantled in Bloemfontein in 2010. In the big matches, it has invariably been Germany coming out on top. Southgate, as he attempts to extract some personal revenge for the events of Euro 96, needs to come up with a way of ensuring things are different this time around.

One of the biggest challenges facing the England boss and his players next Tuesday will be to separate themselves from the emotional whirlwind that will be whipped up around the game. They didn’t make a very good job of that when Scotland visited Wembley last Friday, seemingly unsure whether to match the physical intensity of the opposition or ignore it completely and stick to playing their own game. In the end, they did neither, failing to match Scotland’s feverish work-rate while also retreating into their collective shell when they found themselves in possession.

On Tuesday, England’s players need to be the ones calling the tune, and while Southgate will avoid the jingoistic excesses that will inevitably crop up ahead of kick-off, he would be wrong to ignore the history and magnitude of the fixture entirely. His side need to know how much this matters, and use the support of more than 40,000 fired-up fans to their advantage.

Cool heads will also be required though, not least when it comes to Southgate’s team selection. For a number of different reasons, the England boss heads into one of the biggest games of his tenure with his plans in a state of flux.

What formation should England play? Southgate has spent most of the last three years moving on from the five-man defensive shape he fielded at the World Cup in Russia, but having kept the option of a U-turn open with his squad selection, might this be the moment when he rips up his flat back four?

Germany boss Joachim Low switched to a 3-4-3 formation in the build-up to the tournament, and despite a fair bit of domestic criticism, he seems determined to stick to his guns. His decision was vindicated by his side’s performance in their second group game, when their wing-backs, Robin Gosens and Joshua Kimmich, were instrumental in a 4-2 dismantling of Portugal that could have been even more emphatic.

Having watched Gosens and Kimmich bombing forward in that game, Southgate must be tempted to go like-for-like, which would potentially mean Reece James and Luke Shaw operating as wing-backs, with Tyrone Mings, Harry Maguire and John Stones lining up as three centre-halves.

Overly defensive? Potentially, if Southgate was also to play two holding midfielders. But matching Germany’s shape would make sense if it negated the attacking threat of Gosens and Kimmich.

At the top end of the field, the England boss will continue to keep faith with Harry Kane, who showed welcome signs of life in the win over the Czech Republic, even if his overall performance was still a notch or two down on most of his displays for Spurs last season.

Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka definitely added something against the Czechs, especially in the first half, but neither is a guaranteed starter on Tuesday despite their effectiveness in the final group game.

Southgate was at pains to stress that Phil Foden’s absence was largely an attempt to ensure he avoided a suspension, so there has to be a good chance the Manchester City midfielder will return against Germany. Mason Mount is theoretically available, but extremely unlikely to start, so perhaps Foden will return for Saka, enabling Grealish to remain in the team.

The options will be trialed on the training pitch over the weekend, and it is also to be hoped England’s players spend a fair bit of time practising penalties. Just as there was a sense of inevitability about Germany providing the opposition at Wembley, so deep down, we all already know how this is likely to end…