Georgia Stanway scored twice but England could not complete the comeback after slipping to an early three-goal deficit in their 4-3 loss to Germany at Wembley.
The last time these teams met was at the same venue for England’s triumphant 2-1 comeback in the Euro 2022 final. That game remained scoreless until the second half, but Friday night’s friendly was a completely different story.
The visitors stunned the hosts with a penalty in an early ball to captain Giulia Gwinn and a third from Klara Buhl in the opening 30 minutes before Stanway hit two back, including a spot-kick of their own.
England conceded another penalty after the break, converted by Sara Dabritz, with Lucy Bronze able to pull the sides within one late in the thoroughly entertaining contest in front of a crowd of 47,967.
All but two of Sarina Wiegman’s starting XI – goalkeeper Hannah Hampton and defender Jess Carter – featured in the historic final, despite both being in the squad 817 days ago.
Germany’s new head coach Christian Wuck, who was installed after their bronze medal-winning tour at the Paris Olympics, led a visiting side who took an early lead after Millie Bright brought down Linda Dallmann in the penalty area.
Referee Marta Huerta de Aza’s decision followed a VAR check and Gwinn made no mistake as she stepped up to beat Hampton.
Alessia Russo thought she had equalized in the 10th minute from Ella Toone’s back-heel, but the Lionesses’ celebrations were quickly ended by the offside flag.
Germany broke back and doubled their lead and Gwinn was again the scorer with an effort that pinged off Hampton’s left post before heading in.
The woodwork proved less generous to the hosts, who saw Russo’s next effort clip the far post before going out as the end-to-end action continued.
The tempo eventually dropped, England enjoying the possession advantage but without a shot on target to show for it.
Germany were three goals to the good in the 29th minute after Buhl’s low effort flashed through the legs of Bronze and past the outstretched hand of the diving Hampton at the near post.
Stanway finally gave the home support something to celebrate five minutes later after Gwinn, sliding to block Lauren Hemp’s cross, was penalized for handball.
The Bayern Munich midfielder slotted the resulting 33rd-minute penalty into the bottom left corner of former Chelsea keeper Ann-Katrin Berger’s net, then pulled the Lionesses back within one with a towering effort three minutes later.
Toone should have leveled matters after finding herself one-on-one with Berger, but steered her effort inches wide.
The Lionesses remained just a goal short of the halfway point, although Dallmann went close in stoppage time, forcing Hampton into a nervous fingertip save on the crossbar.
It was Germany’s turn to have the offside flag denied them a goal five minutes after the restart and Hampton was called into action again to deny Jule Brand while Buhl skied over for a try just before the hour mark.
The visitors continued to keep Hampton busy and substitute Dabritz extended Germany’s advantage after Russo was adjudged to have fouled Pia-Sophie Wolter with an outstretched boot while challenging for the ball.
England had the ball in the back of the net again, Hemp the next player denied by the flag, but it was Bronze who kept the hosts’ chances alive when she pounced on Berger’s error to pull the Lionesses back within one in the 81st minute.
Substitute Alex Greenwood cleared a loose ball off the line to keep the hosts in it, but six minutes of stoppage time was not enough for England to find an equaliser.