My emotions were all over the place at the end of yesterday’s match: a mixture of pride, disappointment, frustration and an underlying feeling of “what if”.

What if Aziz Behich’s shot wasn’t blocked by the defender?

What if Garang Kuol had shot the ball under the outstretched arm of the goalkeeper?

What if Kye Rowles doesn’t pass the ball back to Mat Ryan, or if he does, what if Ryan just launches it out of play?

These are unanswerable questions that will haunt us forever.

We did so well yesterday. The tactics were right, the team structure was good, and we were competitive against world-class opposition.

In the end, it was individual errors that cost Australia: moments you can’t plan for as a coach, decisions made in the heat of battle. But it is these unexpected moments that make the game we love.

I watched the game yesterday with an open mind. Not that I didn’t believe we could win. I felt the longer we could keep the game going on an even keel, the better our chances.

If we had taken the game into extra time, I’m certain we would’ve shocked the world again.

But I had to temper my expectation with one obvious thought: this was Argentina – a powerhouse footballing nation that has put many better teams than ours to the sword.

In my first article in this World Cup series, I wrote about how I just wanted us to make it out of our group.

We could’ve chucked it all in after that loss to France but, instead, we proved Australia can play successful football in our own unique style.

There are enough football-loving people in this country to turn us into a soccer dynamo, but we must be willing to get our act together.

The last 24 hours have hurt but when the dust settles, we will come to only one conclusion about Australia’s performance in Qatar: this team, who many dubbed the worst national team ever, will now hold the mantle as the best to compete at a World Cup.

Individually, they aren’t as good as the 2006 squad but, statistically, they are better: two wins, two clean sheets, four goals and three outstanding, disciplined performances against opposition who should’ve accounted for us easily.

These Socceroos sent two football-crazy nations in Tunisia and Denmark packing and gave Argentina a mighty scare.

The obvious next question will be what to do with Graham Arnold. And, for many of these players, their time with the national team will be up before the next tournament (nine of the 26 selected are aged 30 or above).

So, in many ways, this is the end of another generation of Socceroos.

But there are enough talented individuals coming through to suggest the future is well for our national team.

To end his World Cup series, I want to see three things happen from the bounce our game will get from Qatar.

First, some of the prize money from this competition needs to go towards subsiding the cost of registration fees for children. It’s far too expensive to play football in Australia (a conversation we’ve never explored in this column, but an issue that has irked me for a long time). Football Australia will take home around $19 million (AUD). Surely, we can use some of that to encourage more children to play the game?

Secondly, I hope that people see the A-League Men’s competition for what it is: a very good domestic league. Eight of the Socceroos squad are currently playing in the A-League with another 12 having plied their trade at some point at A-League level. It will never be the Premier League but it’s what we have and it’s very good.

Lastly – and this is somewhat intertwined with the above – I hope that all those people who attended live sites across Australia and supported our national team with such vigour don’t go back into hiding for another four years. I hope they buy a ticket to their next A-Leagues game and support a club, fill the stadiums, and show that this was not some flash-in-the-pan moment. There are enough football-loving people in this country to turn us into a soccer dynamo, but we must be willing to get our act together. This may just be the catalyst for that to occur.

We have the Women’s World Cup and the Men’s Asian Cup to look forward to in 2023. Here’s hoping we can go deep into both of those tournaments.