A team containing 11 Lions were outwitted, outmanoeuvred and, increasingly, outmuscled by opponents boasting a mere two.
The unlikely winner, FC Magdeburg, beat the mighty Milan 2-0 with a team containing 11 players from the Magdeburg area".
The Southern League North West club's victory, over a team containing Jimmy Melia, Ronnie Moran and England 1958 World Cup striker Alan A'Court, effectively ended the reign of Liverpool manager Phil Taylor.
Toulon started with a team containing 956 international caps, and had new signing Bryan Habana, the South Africa wing, watching from the stand.
The positives of the Van Gaal interlude were on show here in a team containing three players aged 20 or younger.
They too had found themselves up against a team containing the supposed best player on the planet – LeBron James serving as basketball's answer to Cristiano Ronaldo.
With a team containing players from the English Premier League and the Bundesliga, the host has the talent to defeat Qatar in Seoul on Tuesday.
It always felt unlikely that a team containing an underperforming Wayne Rooney and a typically mundane Michael Carrick would stay undefeated for the entire season and that Manchester United's fall should come in the Midlands was perhaps appropriate.
It will, however, do Cheika's squad good to be reminded that if a team containing a couple of teachers can do that to you, then England, Wales and Fiji are to be taken very seriously indeed.
Ukraine were poor four years ago when hosting the Euros, but this was really insipid for a team containing a Europa League winner, plenty of talent and much more depth than opponents who, more importantly, had more desire and hunger.
