The Three Lions produced a much-improved performance against the Dutch and staged yet another comeback to make it all the way to the showpiece event for a second successive European Championship.
Once again then, Gareth Southgate stands potentially just 90 minutes away from becoming only the second boss of the England men's senior team to win a trophy after Sir Alf Ramsey's home World Cup triumph in 1966.
Yet, for much of Euro 2024, it has not looked like getting anywhere near to coming home.
England were unbeaten and topped Group C but that said as much about the failings of their opponents Serbia, Denmark and Slovenia than anything else.
Indeed, right up until the last kick of the third group game, a Danish goal against Serbia would have sent England to Dortmund for a meeting with Germany in the Last 16 - but it never came.
Nevertheless, Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen seemed tricky enough and the Slovakians took a deserved lead after 25 minutes when Ivan Schranz took advantage of a wide-open defence to score his third goal of the tournament.
Southgate had been criticised during the opening matches for being slow to make attack-minded substitutions - although the Three Lions at least were never behind at any stage of any of the group games.
Now, England were chasing - and yet, infuriatingly, Southgate continued to stand idly on the sidelines deeper and deeper into the second half.
It took until 66 minutes for Cole Palmer to make it off the bench - while Eberechi Eze had to wait until the 84th minute to be introduced.
That left Newcastle United winger Anthony Gordon kicking his heels - and, even now, the 23-year-old has had just a handful minutes of action across the whole competition.
Still, nothing changed - and, as the game moved into stoppage time, an inglorious conclusion to the eight-year Southgate era awaited.
But, if you cannot be good, be lucky - and, after a Kyle Walker throw-in was nodded on by Marc Guehi, the ball fell behind where Jude Bellingham was positioned.
No matter - the Real Madrid man produced a truly spectacular overhead kick to score a brilliant equaliser; England were level and the whole complexion of the tie had changed in the blink of an eye.
With the wind in their sails, the Three Lions went straight on the attack at the start of extra time.
This time, a Palmer free-kick on the right was only half-cleared to Eze whose ball was headed on by another late substitute Ivan Toney to Harry Kane unmarked in the six-yard box.
Now with the lead, England bemusingly reverted to a defensive approach despite the increased attacking talent which they had on the pitch.
That almost proved costly and the relief at the full time whistle was palpable as the team marched on to a quarter finals against Switzerland.
This was a handy Swiss team who had easily accounted for holders Italy in their own Last 16 tie - but, in classic knockout tournament style, the encounter against England resembled a chess match.
Again, the Three Lions had plenty of the ball without any cutting edge - and it took until midway through the second half for either of the teams to take control.
Frustratingly, that team was Switzerland - and, from a ball across by Dan Ndoye via a mis-step by John Stones, Breet Embolo was left with a simple tap-in to give a lead to the Swiss with just 15 minutes remaining.
Reactive rather than proactive as ever, Southgate predictably only rang the changes while trailing - although this time the substitutes had little to do with the rapid-fire equaliser.
Instead, it was another piece of individual inspiration as Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka struck a peach of a shot in-off the post cutting in the right on the edge of the box.
Remarkably, it was England's first shot on target of the match and it meant Southgate's men had scored with each of their previous three efforts on goal across two matches. It was a frankly unsustainable approach.
After the excitement of two goals in five minutes, both teams settled the match down in the remainder of normal time and throughout extra time to the extent that penalties felt inevitable.
At least, one thing that can be said under Southgate is that England's record at penalties has improved - even if the big failure in the Euro 2020+1 Final still sticks in the throat.
In Palmer, Bellingham, Saka, Toney, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, England fielded probably their most promising line-up of takers since Alan Shearer, David Platt, Stuart Pearce, Paul Gascoigne and Teddy Sheringham stepped up at Euro 1996.
That certainly looked the case as the current vintage all kept their cool while Jordan Pickford saved Manuel Akanji's weak opening effort for Switzerland - and so England progressed again with a perfect set of spot-kicks.
Fast improvement was needed, though, against a Netherlands side which had scored nine goals across the tournament in making it through to the last four.
Just seven minutes into the semi final, that became 10 as Xavi Simons unleashed a wonderful shot from just outside the box and England fell behind for a third successive match.
Perhaps it was because the Dutch had scored so soon - but, whatever the reason and without any changes being required from Southgate, England responded with their most convincing half of the the tournament.
On 11 minutes, Saka made a good run towards the heart of the Oranje defence and, after his blocked shot fell to Kane, the Bayern Munich blazed over.
However, the video assistant officials deemed Kane to have been impeded on the shot by Denzel Dumfries's trailing leg - and on-field referee awarded a penalty which Kane happily despatched into the bottom corner.
For once, England did not simply stop and admire their good work - and, through the previously completely anonymous Phil Foden, threatened a second goal.
First, Foden had his shot from a narrow angle cleared off the line by Dumfries then the Manchester City man smacked a thumping shot off the face of the post from 25 yards.
Nevertheless, the Dutch themselves remained a threat - and, between Foden's efforts, the all-action Dumfries clipped the bar with his header from a corner.
The pace of the tie slowed somewhat in the second half - but still there were chances as Pickford saved well from Virgil Van Dijk before Saka had a goal chalked off for a needless offside by Walker who had delivered the pull-back.
As the match headed into stoppage time, yet another bout of extra time looked to be on the cards - but England again played right to the very end as Southgate's subs made another critical intervention.
Palmer, operating on the right, played a useful ball into Aston Villa striker Watkins on the half turn.
Showing strength to hold off his marker Stefan de Vrij and simultaneously great dexterity to retain control of the ball on the turn, Watkins was able to unleash a fierce shot across the goal - and into the bottom corner of the net.
England were ahead - and, with hardly any time for the Dutch to launch a response of their own, the Three Lions are in the Final again.
Now, Spain stand in the way - and, having scored the most goals in Euro 2024 with 13 in six wins out of six, they have been undoubtedly the best team in the competition to watch.
Indeed, if titles were decided on artistic merit, the Spanish would be walking away with the trophy already with Lamine Yamal at the forefront.
In the semi final against France, Barcelona teenager Yamal added another record to his ever-growing list of accomplishments by becoming the youngest scorer in European Championship history at the age of 16 years and 362 days.
Not only that - Yamal's equaliser was an absolute beauty, a curling shot in-off the post from 25 yards as French goalkeeper Mike Maignan conceded from a non-penalty goal for the first time in the tournament.
Four minutes later, Maignan was picking the ball out of his net again as Dani Olmo took down a loose ball and made a yard of space before a low strike on the half-volley.
It was Olmo's third goal of the tournament - all three of them coming in separate knockout stage games - as
Spain had responded brilliantly to an early French blow. For, after just nine minutes of play, Les Bleus scored their first goal from open play at Euro 2024 through Kolo Muani who headed in Kylian Mbappe's pinpoint cross.
Despite that, though, the Spanish were much the better side for most of the first hour of play, deservedly got level then ahead, and really should have extended their lead before the inevitable late French push.
But, beyond a couple of mis-timed headers by Aurelien Tchouameni and Dayot Upamecano, and a wayward shot by Theo Hernandez from the edge of the box, Spain were able to keep Les Bleus at arm's length.
Mbappe, playing without a face mask for the first time since breaking his nose at the start of the tournament, only once got down his favoured inside-left channel - but he finished his run by blazing high over the bar.
It was an effort which summed up the tournament for Mbappe and France as a whole, as Spain deservedly sealed a fifth appearance in a European Championship Final with a fair degree of comfort.
Certainly, La Roja have enjoyed a really rich vein of form throughout, from their 3-0 beating of Croatia in their opening match via further group stage victories against Italy and Albania.
In the Last 16, the Spanish ended Georgia's journey with a 4-1 win - but, while that was a favourable draw against the lowest ranked team at the tournament, Luis de la Fuente's outfit next had to take on hosts Germany in the quarter finals.
Following a cautious first half from both teams, Spain lit the touchpaper early in the second half after Olmo stroked Yamal's perfectly-timed pass across the box into the bottom corner.
Germany responded well, forcing Unai Simon into a good save from Robert Andrich while Niclas Fullkrug slid the ball against the face of the post and Kai Havertz chipped just over.
Eventually, in the 89th minute, the pressure told, as a good header down by Joshua Kimmich from a deep cross by Maximilian Mittlestadt found Florian Wirtz to supply the finish.
The action did not stop there and, in an entertaining extra time period, Mikel Oyarzabal and Wirtz sent efforts agonisingly wide as both teams went for it ahead of one final Spanish attack.
Crossing from the left, Olmo found former on-loan Newcastle midfielder Mikel Merino - and, having drifted off his marker, the Real Sociedad player made no mistake with his planted header from eight yards.
Even then, the Germans had one final chance to force penalties as Fullkrug placed his header inches wide of the post - and defeat for the Mannschaft still means no host nation has won a Euros since France triumphed back in 1984.
Now, despite an unblemished record in the group stage, Spain are not without their vulnerabilities at the back.
La Roja will welcome back Dani Carvajal and Robin Le Normand from suspension into the starting line-up for the Final - but the fact that both were suspended in the first place suggests this Spanish team can be stretched.
Germany, in the quarter final, and France, in the semi final, got more joy in periods when they took the game to Spain, rather than sitting back and attempting to play solely on the break.
After all, while Southgate favours cautious tactics, this Spain team is simply to good on the ball and playing too well to be allowed to dictate the pace of the match.
Instead, to stand any chance of not having to chase yet another game, the Three Lions must show the same intensity as they displayed in the semi final against Netherlands.
Ultimately, at least it can be said that England have given themselves a chance of redemption - and, at this stage, that is all you can ask.
■ LAST 16
| 29-June | 17:00 | SWITZERLAND | 2-0 | ITALY | Berlin |
| BBC | Freuler 37, Vargas 46 | ||||
| 29-June | 20:00 | GERMANY | 2-0 | DENMARK | Dortmund |
| ITV | Havertz 53pen, Musiala 68 | ||||
| 30-June | 17:00 | ENGLAND | 2-1 | SLOVAKIA | Gelsenkirchen |
| ITV | Bellingham 90+5, Kane 91 | aet | Schranz 25 | ||
| 30-June | 20:00 | SPAIN | 4-1 | GEORGIA | Cologne |
| ITV | Rodri 39, Fabian Ruiz 51 Williams 75, Olmo 83 | Le Normand 18og | |||
| 01-July | 17:00 | FRANCE | 1-0 | BELGIUM | Dusseldorf |
| ITV | Vertonghen 85og | ||||
| 01-July | 20:00 | PORTUGAL | 0-0 | SLOVENIA | Frankfurt |
| BBC | Portugal won 3-0 on penalties | aet | |||
| 02-July | 17:00 | ROMANIA | 0-3 | NETHERLANDS | Munich |
| BBC | Gakpo 20, Malen 83, 90+3 | ||||
| 02-July | 20:00 | AUSTRIA | 1-2 | TURKEY | Leipzig |
| ITV | Gregoritsch 66 | Demiral 1, 59 |
■ QUARTER FINALS
| 05-July | 17:00 | SPAIN | 2-1 | GERMANY | Stuttgart |
| ITV | Olmo 51, Merino 119 | aet | Wirtz 89 | ||
| 05-July | 20:00 | PORTUGAL | 0-0 | FRANCE | Hamburg |
| BBC | aet | France won 5-3 on penalties | |||
| 06-July | 17:00 | ENGLAND | 1-1 | SWITZERLAND | Dusseldorf |
| BBC | Saka 80 England won 5-3 on penalties | aet | Embolo 75 | ||
| 06-July | 20:00 | NETHERLANDS | 2-1 | TURKEY | Berlin |
| ITV | De Vrij 70, Muldur 76og | Akaydin 35 |
■ SEMI FINALS
| 09-July | 20:00 | SPAIN | 2-1 | FRANCE | |
| BBC | Yamal 21, Olmo 25 | Kolo Muani 9 |
Spain Unai Simon; Jesus Navas (Vivian 58), Nacho, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Fabian Ruiz; Yamal (Torres 90+3), Olmo (Merino 76), Williams (Zubimendi 90+4); Morata (Oyarzabal 76) Booked Jesus Navas, Yamal
France Maignan; Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Hernandez T; Kante (Griezmann 62), Tchoumeni, Rabiot (Camavinga 62); Dembele (Giroud 79), Koli Muani (Barcola 63), Mbappe Booked Tchoumeni
Attendance 62,042 at the Allianz Arena in Munich Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)
| 05-July | 17:00 | NETHERLANDS | 1-2 | ENGLAND | |
| ITV | Simons 7 | Kane 18pen, Watkins 90 |
Netherlands Verbruggen; Dumfries (Zirkzee 90+3), De Vrij, Van Dijk, Ake; Schouten, Reijnders; Malen (Weghorst 46), Simons (Brobbey 90+3), Gakpo; Depay (Veerman 35) Booked Dumfries, Van Dijk, Simons
England Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi; Saka (Konsa 90+3), Mainoo (Gallagher 90+3), Rice, Trippier (Shaw 46); Foden (Palmer 80), Bellingham; Kane (Watkins 81) Booked Bellingham, Saka
Attendance 60,926 at the Westfalenstadion, Dortmund Referee Felix Zwayer (Germany)
■ GOALSCORERS 114 goals in 50 matches (2.28 goals per game)
3 Georges Mikautadze (Georgia), Jamal Musiala (Germany), Ivan Schranz (Slovakia), Cody Gakpo (Netherlands), Dani Olmo (Spain), Harry Kane (England)
2 Niclas Fullkrug (Germany), Razvan Marin (Romania), Kai Havertz (Germany), Jude Bellingham (England), Fabian Ruiz (Spain), Donyell Malen (Netherlands), Merih Demiral (Turkey), Florian Wirtz (Germany), Breel Embolo (Switzerland)
1 Emre Can (Germany), Kwadwo Duah (Switzerland), Michel Aebischer (Switzerland), Barnabas Varga (Hungary), Alvaro Morata (Spain), Dani Carvajal (Spain), Nedim Bajrami (Albania), Alessandro Bastani (Italy), Nicolo Barella (Italy), Adam Buksa (Poland), Wout Weghorst (Netherlands), Christian Eriksen (Denmark), Erik Janza (Slovenia), Nicolae Stanciu (Romania), Denis Dragus (Romania), Mert Muldur (Turkey), Arda Guler (Turkey), Kerem Akturkoglu (Turkey), Lukas Provod (Czech Republic), Francisco Conceicao (Portugal), Qazim Laci (Albania), Andrej Kramaric (Croatia), Klaus Gjasula (Albania), Ilkay Gundogan (Germany), Scott McTominay (Scotland), Xherdan Shaqiri (Switzerland), Zan Karnicnik (Slovenia), Luka Jovic (Serbia), Morten Hjulmand (Denmark), Mykola Shaparenko (Ukraine), Roman Yaremchuk (Ukraine), Gernot Trauner (Austria), Krzysztof Piatek (Poland), Christoph Baumgartner (Austria), Marko Arnautovic (Austria), Patrik Schick (Czech Republic), Bernardo Silva (Portugal), Bruno Fernandes (Portugal), Youri Tielemans (Belgium), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium), Dan Ndoye (Switzerland), Kevin Csoboth (Hungary), Ferran Torres (Spain), Luka Modric (Croatia), Mattia Zaccagni (Italy), Kylian Mbappe (France), Romano Schmid (Austria), Memphis Depay (Netherlands), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Marcel Sabitzer (Austria), Ondrej Duda (Slovakia), Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Georgia), Hakan Calhanoglu (Turkey), Tomas Soucek (Czech Republic), Cenk Tosun (Turkey), Remo Freuler (Switzerland), Ruben Vargas (Switzerland), Rodri (Spain), Nico Williams (Spain), Michael Gregoritsch (Austria), Mikel Merino (Spain), Bukayo Saka (England), Samet Akaydin (Turkey), Stefan De Vrij (Netherlands), Kolo Muani (France), Lamine Yamal (Spain), Xavi Simons (Netherlands), Ollie Watkins (England)
10 own goals Antonio Rudiger (Germany) for Scotland, Maximilian Wober (Austria) for France, Robin Hranac (Czech Republic) for Portugal, Klaus Gjasula (Albania) for Croatia, Riccardo Calafiori (Italy) for Spain, Samet Akaydin (Turkey) for Portugal, Donyell Malen (Netherlands) for Austria, Robin Le Normand (Spain) for Georgia, Jan Vertonghen (Belgium) for France, Mert Muldur (Turkey) for Netherlands
■ RED CARDS
Ryan Porteous (Scotland) v Germany
Antonin Barak (Czech Republic) v Turkey
Tomas Chory (Czech Republic) v Turkey
Dani Carvajal (Spain) v Germany
Bertug Yildirim (Turkey) v Netherlands
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