Fans would have hoped to witness another epic showdown, two years on from that famous evening at Euro 2022, and this certainly did not disappoint.
It was a wild encounter from start to finish with both teams leaving gaping holes in their defence and goals flowing.
Gwinn’s seven-minute double stunned England as the defensive frailties of Wiegman’s side were exploited.
On too many occasions Germany were able to split apart England’s backline with one direct pass, and individual errors aided the visitors early on.
Captain Leah Williamson, controversially selected ahead of in-form Manchester City centre-back Alex Greenwood, had a nightmare start when she gifted the ball straight to Linda Dallmann and Millie Bright could only bring her down in the box for the penalty that led to Germany’s opener.
Things got worse for England when Jess Carter failed to track Gwinn as she raced through unmarked to fire a second past Hannah Hampton, before the Chelsea goalkeeper was caught out at the near post by Buhl’s strike, which she had been able to squeeze between Bronze’s legs.
It was a catalogue of errors in a horrible defensive showing – but Germany were equally as poor at the back.
Every time England went forward they looked like scoring, with the Arsenal pair of Russo and Beth Mead – struggling for form with their club – causing all kinds of problems near the Germany area.
Russo was unfortunate not to be on the scoresheet when Ella Toone was just offside as she backheeled the ball to her former Manchester United team-mate to thump into the roof of the net.
Minutes after her disallowed goal, Russo then struck the outside of the post.
That was not the only time the woodwork was hit before the break, because Dallmann’s clever lob had to be tipped on to the crossbar by Hampton on the stroke of half-time.
It was Stanway who delivered the first-half goals for England – the first a penalty after Lauren Hemp’s cross was blocked by the hand of Gwinn, and the Lionesses’ Bayern Munich midfielder slotted in her second when she was teed up by Mead.
There was no let-up of goals in the second half either as both teams continued to play the sort of erratic football that will no doubt leave their managers with plenty of concerns – but it was entertaining nonetheless.
One thing is for sure: England cannot afford to gift their opponents so many opportunities at the European finals in Switzerland next summer if they want to enjoy more success.
But they showed resilience and attacking intent to make a game of it in the second half, with Wiegman given plenty of food for thought.