The End of the Road ... and the Beginning

Phill Chadwick reports, Australia should stand as one and praise the efforts of our boys despite the cruel exit, while the dream is over the quest has just begun.

I'm tired, irritated, upset, angry, frustrated, amazed, proud.

Mainly proud. Proud of the way Australia performed on the biggest stage in world sport.

Australia's exit from the World Cup, in the most dramatic of circumstances, has left me in turmoil. I don't know whether to sit back and bask in the unexpected glory of a second round appearance, or rage bitterly against the injustice of that last-gasp loss to Italy.

And, by the way, what is the point of Totti's thumb sucking goal celebration? Is he alluding to the goal being child's play? Or what? Whatever it is, it is offensive and disrespectful of a worthy opponent.

Like a boxer, way ahead on points, we took a knock out punch at the very end of the fight, and lost. In fairness, though, Italy could have been three goals ahead by half time, and we just couldn't seem to make a dent in their defence.

Italy, Brazil, Croatia and Japan all felt first hand the quality of the Australian spirit over these past two weeks, and the whole world now knows that Australian football can hold its own against the best opposition the world has to offer.

Once the whinging about the raw refereeing deal we received has died down, the Australian public can sit down quietly and reflect on a stunningly successful campaign. Thank you Guus, thank you lads.

But that is it for World Cup action for four years. Pick your second favourite team and follow them.

So for now, I will be much more relaxed when watching the rest of the World Cup. I must say that I hope Italy go no further, that Brazil start to play to their ability, that Argentina continue to entertain, and that England can put together some performances worthy of their talent.

And to all those bandwaggoners turned on to the game by this latest adventure. Welcome aboard! Stay on board, buy tickets to see your local A-League team play, and learn to love the game.

In the meantime, the four year World Cup gap will be filled by Australia's foray into the Asian Confederation. We will have Asian Cup matches in which we can continue to patriotically follow our national team. We will have Asian Champions League matches in which we will be able to follow two of our A-League sides.

These new forays into Asia promise to be fruitful for both the development of our young footballers, and for the financial rewards that should come.

Our attack on the Asian competitions can now be made with high confidence following our heroic World Cup efforts.

If we count Australia as an Asian qualifier for this World Cup, even though we actually qualified from Oceania, there were five Asian nations represented. Iran, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia.

Australia was the only one to progress to the second round, and only Australia and South Korea managed to win a match. FIFA rankings don't mean much when USA are ranked above Italy, but Australia now has a fair claim to being the strongest Asian team.

When we face our fellow Asian countries and club sides over the next year, we can take the field confident in our ability to match it with the best.

•  Have a view on this story? Send us your feedback!