Gareth Southgate has said Germany remain the benchmark for England in their quest to become a trophy-winning force at major tournaments ahead of their Nations League clash in Munich.
England will be aiming to bounce back from Saturday's 1-0 loss to Hungary when they face Hansi Flick's side at the Allianz Arena in their second Group C game on Tuesday evening.
Southgate steered England to their first knockout win over Germany in 55 years when they last met, the 2-0 win at Wembley last June securing their place in the last eight of Euro 2020.
But Southgate still views Germany as an example for his young side to follow in terms of their pedigree at major tournaments.
"For me, Germany and Brazil are still the benchmark in terms of countries who have regularly and consistently won tournaments," he said at his pre-match press conference on Monday.
"Everyone will talk about the 5-1 here, but they ended up in the World Cup final on the back of that World Cup qualifying campaign.
"You have to respect what they have been and what they are as a country, in footballing terms. That mentality is what we're trying to create.
"We've got to keep trying to get to the latter stages of competition and games like tomorrow are brilliant for us. It is exactly the kind of test we need."
He added: "I think it's a great measure for us. This will be a brilliant test of where we are at at this particular moment in time.
"But it won't define where we are in five months' time. If we beat them tomorrow, that doesn't mean we will be fine in five months. A lot will happen in that period.
"But one of our hardest challenges a couple of years ago for the team was that we had got to a World Cup semi-final, but could we beat the bigger teams?
"Since then, we have won in Spain, we have beat Belgium in Wembley and we have beaten Germany. We are starting to get those results and we have to continue trying to do that."
Southgate confirmed James Justin and Fikayo Tomori will not be ready for the game, while Phil Foden is sidelined following a positive Covid test, but he expects Marc Guehi to be available along with Raheem Sterling.
Southgate: Euro final racist abuse adds 'extra layer' to penalties
Southgate acknowledges that the racist abuse aimed at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka following their Euro 2020 final penalty misses adds "another layer" of complexity when selecting future shoot-out takers.
An incredible few weeks came to a crushing end last summer when spot-kicks proved the Three Lions' undoing once again, with Italy lifting the European Championship at their expense under the Wembley arch.
Rashford, Sancho and Saka missed the crucial penalties and were immediately subjected to sickening racist online abuse, which led to some individuals receiving custodial sentences.
Jude Bellingham was disturbed by the way team-mates were treated as "just black" rather than English once they missed and Southgate was asked whether potential racist abuse would impact how he chose players and prepared them.
"I have to say it never crossed my mind before," he said five months out from the World Cup. "It will (do now). When I left The Grove (hotel) that day I couldn't help but feel: 'Have I created this situation here for the boys?'
"But it wouldn't be right to not pick the players you think are best to take them because of what the possible consequences of them missing would be. I've got to pick them on the belief they are going to score."
Put to Southgate that black players may now have a fear of missing being compounded by racist abuse, he said: "We're goosed then. We've got 55 years of talking about penalties and everything else.
"So we've now got another layer that's going to make it extremely difficult for us to win anything."
Germany will join England in taking the knee and Southgate has welcomed that united move before Tuesday night's game in Munich.
"We're two countries with huge numbers of mixed heritage and nationals and I think it's an important sign for everybody. So we welcome that," he said.
"They were supportive for the LGBTQ community as well when they played in Hungary last year, I think they were the first team to do that with the captain wearing the [rainbow] armband and we're united in our beliefs on those things."
Stones: Beating Germany at Euro 2020 was a big step for us
Southgate was joined in the press conference by defender John Stones, who described England's win over Germany at Euro 2020 as a "big step" for the team.
"It was an incredible stage we beat them on," he said. "It was a big step, as a team and a nation, I think, to progress in that tournament and to show ourselves what we're capable of.
"We've set a marker now where we've got to replicate things like that. We've got to be consistent at winning and beating big teams, playing well against them.
"That's the challenge for us as players. We've set the bar."
Stones also urged his team-mates to learn from Saturday's 1-0 loss to Hungary, adding: "The other day was a big learning curve for us as a collective.
"We've had an incredible run. That stopped the other day with our first loss in God knows how many games.
"But it's down to us how we bounce back, and how we show our character and experience.
"What a game to do that in tomorrow."
Stones also shrugged off talk of fatigue among the players as they prepare for the second of four Nations League games following a gruelling domestic season.
"We would play all year round if we could," he said. "Everyone is fighting for their place at the World Cup and trying to play well."
Southgate echoed Stones' comments, saying: "The mindset of this group is that they want to push and they want to perform well.
"We will manage their load through training and through their match minutes.
"Every one of them wants to play tomorrow night, there's no doubting that. There's huge motivation in the group.
"I don't think the long season was the cause of the result the other day. It's not easy to stop and then keep going again. The heat also had a big physical impact."