So. South Korea play our old nemeses Uruguay in the second round, with the winner surely a fair chance against either USA or Ghana. Beyond that lies a coveted place in the World Cup Semi Finals. My, my, my. Wouldn't we Aussies love to be in such a position?

We have the wood on our familiar foes from Seoul and Montevideo. So should we blame the luck of the draw for our own miserable exit from WC2010? Or should we blame Mr Pim Ver-blew-it for his disastrous tactics against Germany?

Our games against Ghana and Serbia proved we were good enough to progress at this World Cup. The success of teams like South Korea and Uruguay surely underlines the fact. The difference is that these two teams had coaches who believed in them, they came out fighting every game, and they played to their strengths. They didn't sit back and try to be clever.

Could Australia have beaten Germany, if Pim hadn't abruptly lost the plot? Maybe not, but we surely could have done better than 0-4. Could South Korea or Uruguay have advanced through our  difficult Group D (where four points was arguably a better result than four points four years ago)? We'll never know.

Uruguay certainly benefited from France's failure to turn up, but they still went through undefeated on seven points, with clean sheets in every game (France 0-0, South Africa 3-0, Mexico 1-0). The South Koreans were composed and patient against Greece (2-0), they never stopped fighting against Argentina (1-4), and they still had enough discipline and composure in the tank to battle for a brave draw (2-2) against the imposing Nigerians.

So should Australia have dumped Verbeek somewhere along the line? Those who have called for his dismissal might like to contemplate Nigeria's fall from grace after they swapped coaches at the 11th hour. The squad never had to time to gel, the coach never had time to bring them into line, and players were still arguing over who should take penalties in their final game.

On the other hand, Greece arguably persisted with their 71-year-old coach a bit too long. Eleven years, in fact. Sure, they got their first-ever World Cup win (2-0 over Nigeria), but the squad never looked capable of springing a real surprise. How long can you sit in a parked bus before you get bored stupid?

And what about Argentina? A coach with no serious experience, who nearly made a complete mess of qualification, suddenly has three convincing wins in three games, and his team are firming as crowd favourites for the Cup. Go figure.

In my humble opinion, the secret to Diego's success is that he has complete faith in his talented players. He lets them go out and play their own game, in their own positions. He's not trying to squeeze them into a bizarre system or force them into some diabolical tactical shape.

He's a lot like a player-coach, as his endless sideline pacing suggests. He listens to his players, he talks to them, he understands them and they (mostly, not sure about Tevez) seem to understand him.

Compare that style to the aloof hauteur of guys like Domenech and Capello, for example. Then tell me which approach seems to be working best at this World Cup.

I'm still not sure Maradona's marvellous squad won't self-destruct, but it's certainly fun to watch. They might even end up getting bumped off by South Korea or Uruguay. But at least they will go out playing their own game. There's a less to be learned there for our next Socceroos coach.