A good friend of mine, and a good friend of his - an Australia squad member - were chatting before the World Cup. "Off the record, how do you think you'll really do?" my friend asked. "We've got one or two who can be lazy or act the prima donna, but right now we're absolutely flying in training," came the insistent reply. "We're going to surprise a few people."
And so it proved, as Australia gave Brazil an 18-certificate fright before scrambling Croatia's steady-steady equilibrium with a display of sustained, high-tempo Hiddinkian football. Then, sadly, they surprised us for a final time, by not going for broke against Italy.
The Azzurri, down to 10 men early in the second half after the baffling dismissal of Marco Materazzi, were there for the taking. Yet at that point Australia suddenly decided they wanted to be Arsenal; instead of a primitive, wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am approach they decided to pass the ball into the net.
It didn't work. Gianluigi Buffon made just one save in the second half before, at the death, came the umpteenth unjust decision of the tournament, when Fabio Grosso fell over Lucas Neill's outstretched leg. Francesco Totti aimed high and true, and Australia were out.
They left, like all teams, with what-ifs and what-might-have-beens. What if they had been able to call on the relentless anaerobic running of Brett Emerton, suspended for this match, or the swish and style of Harry Kewell? And with Ukraine next, a semi-final was surely in their grasp.
Yet at the crucial moment, the country whose sportsmen possess perhaps more self-belief than any other fatally held back. Australia's performances in Germany will rightly be remembered. But they could have done so much better.
