One loss, one draw, and one win. Same results as four years ago in a tougher group with three suprerior teams to those that we faced in Germany. We did this with a team with less "star" players than four years ago. And all the media can do is complain about the 4-0 loss to Germany? How can people forget that this is the first time Australia has ever qualified for a world cup two times in a row. How can they forget losing to Iran after a 2-0 lead? Losing to Uruguay? All the heartbreak that has faced this generation of Socceroos? This is a monumental step forward for Australia yet that's not what is recognised. We were unlucky not to beat a decent Ghana side with 10 players. Hell, we made them look like they had been the one 10 players at times. We beat Serbia---a side that people had marked down as being a dark horse for the whole tournament. Yet people are talking about the German loss.

Coming from the people that crucified Australia after the German game it's not surprising I suppose. Coming from the people that supported Verbeek's tactical changes before Australia lost 4-0 it's hardly suprising. It's still very depressing. I probably shouldn't even talk about them about them, as they do not to be mentioned in the same sentence as the Socceroos.

We did this without Viduka. We did this without half the team at the peak of the career as they were four years ago, and young players like Valeri and Holman stepped up when required. The latter after years of heavy criticism. I was critical of him too, but I'm really pleased to see him start fulfilling his potential. The goal he scored against Serbia probably would not have been scored four years ago. We would not have had the confidence to shoot from there. To me it symbolises another big step forward we've taken.

We performed better than we did in Germany IMO. We were more confident. We had a better swagger about us. Despite the very difficult conditions it always seemed as if we would do all we could do to get through.

It's very upsetting not to go through, sure. We can lament the loss against Germany, we can lament not beating Ghana when we had the chances to, but we should take far, far more than that from the way we played. It might be bitter sweet, but we did our best in the end, and that's all you can ask.

And to those who say people take sport far too seriously. You're lucky you think that way or you'd be open to suffering and a lot of genuine grief. Of course you'll also never experience what it's like to follow a team like Australia your whole life and then see them go to the world cup after years and years of heart break. And you'll never know what it's like to make it to a world cup after a long and tough qualification tournament and do so very, very well.

Even if we didn't get out of the group, we did our very, very best.