Italy and Germany are routinely billed as World Cup favourites going into the sport's biggest tournament, but on the evidence of last night's 4-1 rout, this year's hosts looked far from being regarded a genuine contender.
However, before the dust had settled on a resounding win for the home side, both coaches insisted that nothing much should be read into the result.
While Marcello Lippi pointed out the game was just another step in Italy's build-up, his German counterpart Juergen Klinsmann denied the result gave him any reason to worry and insisted there was still plenty of time to turn things around.
There was no doubt, however, which of the two left Florence's Franchi stadium the happier man.
Lippi's toughest task between now and June will be to stem the rising tide of expectation that can sometimes create an atmosphere of near-hysteria around the Azzurri.
Unbeaten in 16 matches and with Germany's scalp added to that of Holland, who Italy's beat 3-1 last November, there is a definite sense that momentum is growing behind their bid to win the World Cup for the first time since 1982.
Wednesday's win was Italy's most convincing performance since Lippi took over as coach in August 2004.
He will have taken extra satisfaction because the result was achieved without injured talisman Francesco Totti. The influential Roma striker, so often described as the lynchpin of Italy's attack, broke a bone in his ankle last month, forcing Lippi to ditch his favoured formation of two strikers supported by a playmaker for a three-man attack.
The plan worked as Luca Toni, Alberto Gilardino and Alessandro Del Piero each scored. Asked whether their performance had left him with a dilemma over whether to bring Totti back into the starting line-up, Lippi replied: "It doesn't matter which players I field.
"The only thing that matters is that they put in the effort once they get there. With Francesco up front we play in a slightly different way, but with or without him we've got an attack that can create problems for any team out there."
Klinsmann, meanwhile, glossed over a depressing night for the World Cup hosts.
"Obviously we're a bit down right now, but it is better that something like this happens now instead of during the tournament itself," he said. "We're not worried. We're still 100 days from the start of the World Cup, and we have two and a half weeks immediately before it starts to iron out all the technical and tactical problems."
Klinsmann's optimism was not shared by team captain Michael Ballack, who left the pitch deeply disappointed.
"Nothing worked," the Bayern Munich midfielder admitted. "We weren't aggressive enough, we quickly went behind two-nil and after that Italy could just play their own game. It's a step backwards. Now we will have to work very hard to make sure we are ready in time for the World Cup."
