Eni Aluko believes England Women must humbly accept their deficiencies were exposed on their big Wembley day out.
Striker Aluko was Europe's leading scorer in World Cup qualifying, plundering 13 goals as the Three Lionesses earned their place at Canada 2015 with 10 straight wins.
They conceded just once in that campaign but were 2-0 behind to Germany after 12 minutes of Sunday's big showdown which marked the team's first appearance at Wembley since the stadium was rebuilt.
A crowd of more than 45,000 saw England eventually beaten 3-0, and for Aluko, the sister of Hull striker Sone Aluko, it was a critical stepping stone on the path to next summer's tournament.
The 27-year-old said: "We played the best team in the world and that's the benchmark, and when you play the benchmark side you've got to take as many lessons from that as possible and be humble about it and say, 'where could we have been better as players collectively and individually?'.
"Next time hopefully when we play Germany we'll be able to rectify some of the mistakes we made.
"The purpose of this all is for us to go into a World Cup and compete. Hopefully there's more to come from this team.
"The German players were very composed and knew what they were doing.
"We have a huge respect for Germany because for many years they've been doing what we aspire to do."
Next summer's World Cup will be played on synthetic pitches, which has caused complaints to escalate to the point of a legal objection being filed by a number of players.
The aggrieved players - none of them yet from the England camp - have complained that men would not be expected to play a World Cup on anything other than grass.
Aluko offered some sympathy to those arguing the case against 3G surfaces.
"It's up to them what they argue, I can kind of understand some of their arguments," she said. "It's not something we can control and to be honest it might suit our style of play.
"There are technical differences and you've got to adapt to that and be ready."
Sunday's match was an international perhaps like no other Wembley has known, the sort where an England team could trail by three goals at half-time and be still applauded off the pitch, and where Germany's national anthem, the Deutschlandlied, was afforded a level of respect sadly often lacking at the stadium.
Rather than dwelling on old scores and old wars, England's supporters, many too young in any case to have more than passing cognisance of such matters, were out to enjoy themselves on a day those in the women's game have longed for.
For England captain Steph Houghton there was inevitable frustration at the outcome, but the 26-year-old vowed she and her team-mates would gain from the experience.
"Germany are the best in the world and a lot of the girls were just talking in the changing rooms about how we know now what it takes to be a real good side and a consistent side," Houghton told Press Association Sport.
"I admire the way they played and how they're unselfish with the ball and make runs for each other and if we can add that clinical side and a bit of aggression into our game, then we can be close to being one of the best in the world.
"I know we've got some match winners and players who could take the World Cup by storm singlehandedly if they wanted to. We believe if we put the work in we can be as good as anyone."
Karen Carney, whose 100th appearance ended in an anti-climax, added: "We've got to be nitpicky, we've got to be ruthless in our analysis and be better."
Source: PA
