They reached the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup and only lost 1-0 to Argentina. And when you think about it that was the first major international tournament that group of players experienced.
So? They've got the experience of playing in the top European leagues at club level, which they also had in 2014. Also, they didn't exactly have a strong group (Russia, Algeria and South Korea) and they only beat the USA in extra time in the 2nd round. They became stuck once they played a top team and Argentina could have easily scored more than 1 goal.
They'll go into Euro 2016 with more confidence, better group cohesion, more experience
But with slightly less quality. Benteke, Hazard and Kompany don't look as good as they did 2 years ago.
and arguably a lower quality of opponents
The quality of teams in UEFA is much stronger than those in other confederations. There hasn't been a World Cup final without a European team since 1950. Sure, you don't have to play Argentina or Brazil, but you also don't have to play teams as weak as Cameroon, Iran or Honduras.
Edited 12/6/2015 02:36:18