Michael O'Neill insists his young players will recover from their 5-1 hammering in Sweden, and they'll have to with the threat of Germany lurking on the horizon.
Northern Ireland - whose starting XI on Tuesday night had an average age of 21 - were punished for their mistakes on what turned into a chastening evening at the Strawberry Arena in Stockholm.
Emil Holm's opening goal after just seven minutes set the tone, with Benjamin Nygren, Ken Sema, Anthony Elanga and Newcastle United star Alexander Isak also on target for the rampant hosts.
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Despite the humbling result, O'Neill believes exposure to high-level opposition will stand his squad in good stead as they prepare for a World Cup qualifying group which will include Germany, Slovakia and Luxembourg.
"It was a tough night for us, but that's why we took this game. The scoreline is a little bit harsh on us, but at the end of the day we did give opportunities away and you will be punished by a team of this calibre," O'Neill said.
"We have to experience this level of opposition. I thought the physicality of the game was very difficult for us. We are a very young team and on '1 v 1' situations it was tough for us."
He added: "I think you always learn from international football. Our team tonight was mainly made up of players in the Championship and League One. They were playing against players who mostly play at the top level in Europe's top leagues.
"So that is the difference. The physicality and speed of the game was a challenge for us, but it is something we need to deal with.
"There is another level above this which we will come up against in September when we play Germany. So we know what's in store for us.
"But we can only improve as a team if we expose ourselves to this level of opposition."
Northern Ireland have two more friendlies before the start of the World Cup qualifiers in September. O'Neill's side will take on Denmark and Iceland in June.
The international boss doesn't believe Tuesday night's result in Stockholm will 'damage confidence' among his squad, who last year earned promotion in the Nations League and drew with Switzerland on Friday night.
"I don't think this will be damaging for them. You lose a game, whether it be 3-1 or 5-1, you put it away so that by the time we play in June it is forgotten about," he said.
"It won't damage confidence, but it shows us what's out there and what we will have to deal with.
"There are positives. If you look at the statistics from the game, they are better than the game on Friday night. We had more possession, more passes.
"The biggest difference was Sweden had more touches in our box than we did in their box. When we watch the game back, I think we will see a lot more positives.
"But we will also see we need to defend a lot better at this level.
"Sweden have a good squad. I spoke to Jon Dahl Tomasson (Swedish manager) when he got the job and he felt he had a squad that had growth in it as well. I think they have some top, top players.
"Players like Viktor Gyökeres and Dejan Kulusevski weren't even here tonight. They have some top talent especially at the top end of the pitch.
"For us it is a benchmark. For our players all these games are a step up, and sometimes when you come into a situation like this you need to stay in the game longer. We didn't do that tonight."
English (United States) ·