Gareth Southgate hailed the "tremendous spirit" demonstrated by England, who he feels have come together and grown following their entertaining Nations League draw with Germany.
The Three Lions head coach has come under pressure recently following a difficult spell of form that culminated in relegation from League A after defeat by Italy on Friday.
Indeed, England have now gone six matches without a win for the first time since 1993. But they showed brilliant character against Germany on Monday, recovering from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 at Wembley, before Kai Havertz denied them victory.
And Southgate is confident the sticky patch will benefit his players as all eyes turn towards the World Cup, which sees the 1966 winners face Iran in their Group B opener on November 21.
"As a group, they have really come together this week," he told Channel 4. "It has been a tough period for team, but they have grown.
"To an extent, we are always going to face pressure, so we need to be exposed to pressure. We played a friendly against the Ivory Coast in March and they went down to 10 men, and it became a non-event and we learnt nothing.
"This week, we've learnt a huge amount. They've had to step forward and come together. It will benefit us in the long run.
"In the end, a couple of errors have cost us the goals, but I'll focus on the fact they played with tremendous spirit and showed a belief that we haven't shown in the last few games. I thought the crowd saw that and rose to that."
Meanwhile, captain Harry Kane insisted there were plenty of positives for he and his team-mates to build on heading into Qatar.
The Tottenham forward marked his 50th start as England captain – becoming the fifth player to achieve the feat – with his 51st international goal, which moves him two away from equalling Wayne Rooney's all-time Three Lions record.
"The mentality and fight of the team was shown out there today. We didn't get the win, but we can be proud of what we did," Kane said.
"The boys have been under pressure with recent results and we all came out here with a point to prove. But there are lessons; we can still learn from the mistakes we made, but we scored three goals and I feel like this will put us in a positive mindset ahead of the World Cup.
"We've upped our game as we've gone along in the last two major tournaments. We dust ourselves down. We know we have to improve but there isn't that much time now with England before that first game [against Iran].
"But we'll go away with our clubs and hopefully everyone goes away fit, strong and is ready to come back in November."
Greece 2-0 Republic of Ireland: Hosts stay top after emotional win
Greece continued their perfect Nations League start after making it four wins in as many games thanks to a 2-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland on Sunday.
Ivan Jovanovic's side stunned England on Thursday with a 2-1 victory, and followed that Wembley win up with another three points in Piraeus, where tributes were paid to George Baldock after his death this week.
The hosts dominated the first half without reward, with Caoimhin Kelleher forced into a number of saves, though Evan Ferguson spurned a glorious early chance at the other end.
That resistance was broken after 48 minutes as captain Anastasios Bakasetas combined with Christos Tzolis before the former's strike nipped off Liam Scales before looping over the powerless Kelleher.
Odysseas Vlachodimos needed to be alert as debutant Jack Taylor almost diverted Josh Cullen's delightful cross over the Greece goalkeeper, who reacted well to tip over the bar past the hour.
Petros Mantalos made sure of victory in stoppage time, however, capitalising on Kelleher's woeful pass before slotting home with ease.
The win caps an emotional week for Greece, who held a minute's silence for full-back Baldock before the victory that moved them three points clear of England ahead of their meeting in Athens in November.
Data Debrief: Brilliant Bakasetas
Bakasetas has been directly involved in 46% of all of Greece's goals in the Nations League (13/28), scoring six and providing seven assists in his 21 matches.
His second-half heroics here helped Greece to a fifth straight win, keeping a clean sheet in four of those, across all competitions for the first time since October 2016.
Victory was deserved for the hosts, too, given they accumulated 2.15 expected goals (xG) to their visitors' 0.74 xG.
Grealish feeling the love from 'top manager' Carsley in England revival
Jack Grealish is feeling the love playing under interim head coach Lee Carsley after the Manchester City midfielder's goal helped England to a 3-1 win over Finland on Sunday.
Grealish was on target in the 18th minute, combining well with Angel Gomes for his fourth international goal, before Trent Alexander-Arnold and Declan Rice sealed the Nations League triumph.
The 29-year-old has now scored two goals in three appearances under Carsley, as many as he did in his first 36 England caps when playing for Gareth Southgate.
Grealish made his feelings known after being left out of England's Euro 2024 squad, and has been a player reborn since his introduction back into the fold.
"We could have had a few more, but it was difficult at times," Grealish told ITV on his team's display in Helsinki.
"Whatever happens with the England manager, people will always say negative stuff.
"Before, people were crying out for all attacking players to play, and it didn't work. I don't get it, it can happen in games.
"I love coming here, a top, top manager and I love playing for him."
Grealish impressed again for the Three Lions, creating more chances (three), having more touches in the opposition box (seven) and accumulating the highest expected goals (xG) tally (0.63) for Carsley's side.
Arsenal's Rice has also found a scoring streak since Carsley's arrival at the helm, notching his fifth international goal after turning home Ollie Watkins' cross late on.
With Rice and Grealish's strikes, it was the first time the same two players have scored in back-to-back England away games since Bukayo Saka and Tammy Abraham did so against Andorra and San Marino in 2021.
Rice was quick to lavish praise on Grealish after his "special" performance at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, while also lauding Carsley's impact on the squad.
"Do you know how good Jack is? He has something very special," said Rice. He looks really confident, and I am buzzing for him. When he is playing well and happy, he is a massive boost for England.
"Since the manager has come in, he has been so honest, so refreshing. He has a way of playing, and he really wants us to stick with that."
Deschamps braced for intense clash with rivals Belgium
Didier Deschamps is preparing his France team for an intense meeting with rivals Belgium in Monday's decisive Nations League clash.
Belgium have not overcome Les Bleus in competitive action in 43 years, last managing to do so in 1981 in a World Cup qualifier.
Domenico Tedesco's side will be desperate to atone for that poor record in Brussels, knowing a defeat could end their top-two hopes.
France are two points clear of third-placed Belgium, who are three behind group leaders Italy, and Deschamps anticipates an enthralling clash with their quarter-final qualification chances on the line.
"We will have a motivated Belgian team, like they always are, but even more so on Monday. There's definitely a rivalry," Deschamps told reporters on Sunday.
"We face each other often in competitions, but not so much in friendlies. We often meet in decisive matches. So there’s a rivalry since we are neighbours, but not animosity and no bad blood because the players know each other."
As for France's impressive record against Belgium, Deschamps does not expect that to play any influence on Monday.
"I'm not convinced our past wins give us a psychological edge. It is history ... and the players aren't the same either," the France boss added.
Les Bleus thrashed Israel 4-1 in Budapest, while Belgium earned a 2-2 draw in Italy on Thursday, having been two goals behind inside 24 minutes.
France will again be missing talisman Kylian Mbappe, who is facing criticism at home for not taking part in the games against Israel and Belgium while being fit to play for Real Madrid.
Mbappe's Real Madrid team-mate Aurelien Tchouameni will continue as France captain after taking the armband in his absence.
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