And then there were four.
After an enthralling set of quarter-finals, Euro 2025 is into the final furlong as the showpiece decider awaits on Sunday.
But before that, Italy, England, Spain and Germany will have to negotiate the semi-finals on Tuesday and Wednesday, with both fixtures and the final live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player.
England and Spain will be favourites to advance to what would be a blockbuster final in Basel. But on Tuesday, the English will have to be wary of an Italy side that stunned Norway in the quarters, while Spain will also be well aware of Germany's resolve which was very much in evidence as they overcame a heavily-tipped France on penalties on Saturday.
Ahead of both semi-finals, Shelbourne midfielder and former Republic of Ireland international Rachel Graham previewed both fixtures on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Italy go into this game after stunning Norway 2-1 thanks to their talismanic striker Cristiana Girelli's brace and they will be underdogs again against England.
However, Sarina Wiegman's side did struggle badly in the first half of their eventual penalty-shootout win over Sweden.
But last time England met the Italians in a February 2024 friendly, they won 5-1 which will raise expectations for the defending champions.
"I think for England, sometimes playing a team like that, it can be so daunting because they've absolutely nothing to lose," said Graham.
"(Italy) are no pushovers at the moment but if England go out and play well and at their best, I think they will beat them. But there is always going to be that element of 'these have absolutely nothing to lose here, it's a free hit for these'. So it's always a bit of a nervy kind of one.
"For England, with the way they started the last game, they need to get a good start against Italy."
But defensively, England do have some vulnerabilities, whether it's individually or based on the way those ahead of the back-line press and use the ball.
"They haven't looked defensively solid at the back or overly confident. Sarina is not one who usually makes a lot of changes," said Graham.
"But if there is a change, an unforced one, it could be Jess Carter coming out and whether it's (Alex) Greenwood or Esme Morgan, goes in at centre-half.
"Leah Williamson rolled her ankle as well (against Sweden) and she played on for a bit but it looked pretty bad enough. So whether she's back fit or not, I don't know.
"But if you're looking at Italy, maybe they could get at (England's) back line and press their midfield and get them to lose the ball. But England are top quality. They know what they're coming up against."
Germany's character shone through as they overcame pre-game and early in-game setbacks to take France to penalties and ultimately prevail on Saturday.
But the big question is whether the Germans will have had the chance to recover fully after playing the majority of those 120 minutes with ten players and with tournament favourites Spain having had an extra day of rest.
"They're without a couple of players as well," said Graham pointing to the suspended duo Sjoeke Nuesken and Sarai Linder, adding to a depleted Germany's growing issues.
"They've had a lot of chopping and changing within their XI which isn't ideal.
"But Spain have proven how good they are. I think Germany defended so well against France, put them under a lot of pressure and closed them down.
"But France are probably a more direct, powerful team, whereas Spain are a more technical, short-passing team and if you do press them and get it wrong, they can bounce the ball around you and pick spaces in your back line.
"So that might be hard to do against Spain, and Spain are the only team so far not to have lost a game. Germany have had a much tougher run-in - extra-time, players are playing 120 minutes. You could see Jule Brand coming off at the end and she was completely running on empty for the 5-10 minutes before that.
"Spain haven't had as tough a run. They haven't gone to extra time yet. They haven't been overly challenged where they need to be hitting fourth or fifth gear.
"It's a big ask for Germany. First of all to beat France was brilliant but then recovering in time to meet the best team in the world is going to be huge.
"But they're probably going to be flying on confidence after picking up that result, and Spain didn't put in their best performance against Switzerland, so I wouldn't be writing Germany off but if you're backing one team you're picking Spain."
Watch Euro 2025 semi-finals, England v Italy and Germany v Spain, from 7.30pm on Tuesday and Wednesday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app
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