At the foot of the gargantuan Kolner Dom, tens of thousands of Scotland supporters steadied themselves to watch their team attempt to scale a challenge of a similar scale.
In the 5-1 defeat by hosts Germany on Friday, the Scots were a shadow of the team which a year ago stunned Norway or beat the Spanish in qualifying.
The guile and doggedness deserted them in the vast expanses of the Allianz Arena.
In this intense cauldron, they rattled a Swiss team which swept away the Hungarians on match day one.
The opener was vintage Scotland from the qualifiers. A McTominay header cleared a corner, with Andy Robertson carrying the ball the full length of the pitch on a cavalry charge.
When Callum McGregor eventually laid a heavy pass to the Manchester United midfielder, his first-time shot took a big deflection off Fabian Schar to rocket high into the net.
Nervousness at the back was still there on the right side of defence in that first half, and there were more than a few hearts-in-mouths moments as Switzerland missed a glut of glaring chances as the clock and finger nails ran down.
But in the second half Scotland attacked with fervour and without fear, and they've given themselves a chance. That's all Steve Clarke, or the bumper Scotland crowd who travelled from the city centre, could have asked for.