Two Sundays ago the Young Socceroos kicked off their U-20 World Cup campaign in style, holding South American champions Colombia to a deserved 1-1 draw.
Playing a pleasing brand of football Australia at times ran the Colombians ragged who went into the game expecting a physical, long ball team (their coach even told the world he expected it) only to be confronted by a confident and intelligent outfit.
Knocking it around on the deck quickly and incisively their performance was the best by an Australian team of any level for many a year. Have we finally turned the corner and produced a team capable with matching it with the best?
The plaudits came thick and fast especially for Danny De Silva. At 16, the young midfielder is the youngest player at the World Cup and it is possible for him to be selected for another two U-20 tournaments.
De Silva showed skill and awareness on and off the ball like a man twice his age, the superlatives never ending. Surely after this performance, the game against debutants El Salvador would be a walk in the park?
However despite a stunning early goal by the gloriously bearded Josh Brillante, the Young Socceroos slumped to a shock 2-1 defeat.
This jeopardised their place in the next round. It wasn’t helped by a disastrous defensive performance which coughed up two very defendable goals.
Going into the final game, the Young Socceroos needed a win to progress to the next round. However, they lost 2-1 and continued the pattern of being eliminated in the group stages, a trend that has remained consistent since 2003.
So same problem? An Australian squad that despite its hard work and determination was technically overawed by superior teams? Short answer: no.
In all three games, Australia at least were competitive with the teams they faced.
This included South American champions Colombia who they matched blow for blow in a fantastically high quality 1-1 draw and a devastating 2-1 defeat to the host nation Turkey.
While outplaying the Turks, they were undone by two sensational goals (though Paul Izzo will be very disappointed having conceded the first).
So if we were supposedly the better team over three games, what went wrong?
Well to answer that we need to look at the El Salvador game, this was the match that needed to be won.
Once again we dominated the game, creating the better chances but were undone by a poor performance at the back.
Geria was a primary, but not at all being the only, culprit.
The young Socceroos showed naivety at both ends of the pitch, knocking the ball around as well as any Australian team has done in years but being toothless in front of goal. Adam Taggar being particularly disappointing up front.
However despite gaining only one point in three games, the Young Socceroos deserve massive credit.
They have been the first Australian national showing the fruits of labour from the coaches implementing the national curriculum.
Finally there has been a national team that has matched it with the best in the world on a technical level.
It has also produced a number of players I expect to push on and succeed at a senior level. De Silva, Brillante, Good and Pain at the top of this list.
We are finally beginning to see the fruits of our labour, and despite the naysayers the future is indeed bright for Australia.
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Even though St.Pauli ultimately lost a high-scoring affair, Jackson Irvine was a standout, as well as scoring a late goal.
What if we celebrated all of the achievements big and small, and weeded out those hell-bent on bringing down a game that is doing a hell of a lot right?
A good performance from Michael Ruhs, scoring twice to beat Macarthur and doubling his season goal tally in the process.
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