"In such games a squad gains its identity," Nawalka said. "I hope this will be the beginning of a new road for the national team.

"We made a small step, but let’s not be too euphoric. We play Scotland on Tuesday and this is our focus now."

Poland, who co-hosted Euro 2012 with Ukraine, but did not qualify for the World Cup in Brazil this year, moved joint top in group D with Ireland, who face Germany next week.

Their first victory over their far more illustrious neighbours left few Poland fans in the stadium unmoved, with former international and Polish FA chief Zbigniew Boniek talking to reporters with tears in his eyes.

"When I saw the fans coming into the stadium I thought to myself that it would be good if they are not sad when they return home," said Boniek, a member of Poland’s last great national team that finished third at the 1982 World Cup.

"The statistics pointed to Germany, they seemed more mature in the game, but football is a game where such factors as collectivity and commitment play a role. We want to go to France and we are not stopping here."

Poland defender Lukasz Piszczek said there was an element of good fortune to their victory after Germany squandered several chances.

"It’s the first win. We are ecstatic," said Piszczek, whose cross in the 51st minute found Arkadiusz Milik who gave Poland the lead before Sebastian Mila added another late in the game.

"Our people have waited a long time for this. We were defending deep but waited for our chances to break.

"We had a bit of luck as well, but we wrote history today. We have another game on Tuesday [at home to Scotland] but today we will party."

The Germans, who take on Ireland in Gelsenkirchen on Tuesday, had their neighbours on the back foot from the start but neither Karim Bellarabi, making an otherwise fine debut, nor Thomas Mueller could score in the first half.

"I can’t say much about the team only maybe that we were a bit sloppy with our chances," coach Joachim Loew, who once more started without a natural striker, said.

"But also in the second half we played well, created chances and Poland scored with their first chance."

The Germans deserved at least a goal after again dominating after the break, especially following Poland’s lead in the 51st minute but their attacks lacked a clinical finish.

"We simply failed to score. With that number and quality of chances, we just failed to score and then a game like that can easily turn," said defender Mats Hummels, who came close himself once.

"We were the better team but efficiency is what counts in football and we did not have it today."

With record Germany scorer Miroslav Klose retired and Mario Gomez injured, Loew had recalled Borussia Moenchengladbach forward Max Kruse but left the 26-year-old languishing on the bench.

With Mueller in a forward role and World Cup final hero Mario Goetze playing a few steps behind, Germany just could not make their advantage count.

The introduction of Lukas Podolski late in the game added more attacking spark but he could only hit the bar with a thundering drive before Poland grabbed their second.

"I had the feeling that we could have responded after the goal," Loew said. "We had chances with Bellarabi and Podolski. Chances were there because essentially it was a one-sided second half.

"Our task now will be to find our finishing and score.

"I have to talk with the players, we will analyse the game. Our game execution was good, our finishing wasn’t."