Low's annoyance at the proceedings in the sold-out Olympic Stadium was visible throughout the 90 minutes. The 58-year-old rarely left his coaching zone, waving his arms in an attempt to close huge gaps in midfield and trying to galvanise a team that lacked personality, tactical cohesion and quality.

"It wasn't our day today," Low conceded after the final whistle. "The result apart, it wasn't the game we had envisaged. The automatisms didn't work, we lacked fluidity."

The Germany coach was especially critical of the World Cup winners' opening 20 minutes, when he felt that "easy mistakes" had "built up the confidence of opponents that might have had some concerns" after losing 7-1 in the semifinals in 2014. "Our body language wasn't good, our position game wasn't good, we didn't put enough pressure on them in defence, we lacked pace," he said.

Asked whether there were any positives to take from the game at all, Low could only think of "the reaction" Germany had shown after the break. The Nationalmannschaft had indeed played with a bit more urgency in an effort to avoid defeat, but it was telling that Julian Draxler's shot in injury time was the one and only meaningful attempt on Alisson's goal after an evening bereft of ideas and precision.

"Not a lot went well for us today," Low summarised.

Seven changes from the first XI that had played out a highly entraining 1-1 draw with Spain on Tuesday saw Germany resemble a B team in Berlin. Low, to an extent, expected them to play like one. "We knew that there would be problems," he said, adding that young players such as Leroy Sane (Manchester City) or Leon Goretzka (Schalke 04) still needed to get used to playing for the national team against such high-level opposition.

As predicted, Low had treated the match largely as a chance for fringe players to stake their claim, knowing full well that using Brazil as a mere sparring partner in a casting session might well backfire. Nevertheless, he had hoped for much more, at an individual and collective level.

Kevin Trapp (Paris Saint-Germain) gave the ball away half a dozen times with some poor distribution from the back. Left-back Marvin Plattenhardt held his own at the back against the cautious visitors but couldn't add anything of note in attack. Following a strong start, Ilkay Gundogan gave the ball away in dangerous areas, while his teammate Sane frequently made the wrong decision. Mario Gomez's passivity up front set the wrong tone from the get-go; the VfB Stuttgart striker will do well to make the final squad after his ineffective showing. Goretzka showed some uncharacteristically poor touches and appeared isolated in a wide attacking role. Of all the second-string hopefuls, only Chelsea's Antonio Rudiger emerged with any real sense of credit.

More concerning, still, was the absence of any collective rhythm or playing pattern. As a team, Low's men were disjointed, disheveled, debilitated. Nevertheless, Germany's manager professed himself not worried. Low explained that all his squad needed was more time to train together, so that they could develop and hone a system that can work almost independently of the personnel, as had been the case at the Confederations Cup.

"You can rest assured that we will improve," he said, with a hint of defiance. "I'm not concerned by a 1-0 defeat by one of the favourites to win the tournament. I'm not really concerned by anything at this stage. I know that we are capable of so much more." Everyone will agree with that last sentiment. His Germany could have scarcely delivered less on Tuesday.