They are the ribbon wearing, Justin Bieber listening, One Direction loving graduates of the Young Matildas that signal the strength, and much welcomed depth, of Australian women's football.

While many coaches are happy to spout the "if they are old good enough, they are old enough" adage, few have the courage of their convictions to put results, and ultimately their job, on the line in implementing it.

Blooding young players and ushering through the next generation is a delicate process. It's a spectre stalking the Socceroos as our "golden generation" near retirement with some very high stakes.  Get it wrong and a generation of footballers can be lost but if you get it right, well that crop can be harvested for up to a decade. 

Let's take the 2010 German World Cup squad as a case study.  In South Africa Jogi Loew's penchant for royal blue cashmere sweaters wasn't the only enduring memory of the tournament.  As equally eye catching was the football on display by Germany.  Durban anyone? Sorry, that might still be too soon for some.  

Unlike a majority of teams in the tournament, it wasn't Germany's old guard cutting a swath but a wave of wunderkinds including Thomas Müller (19), Toni Kroos (20), Mesut Özil (21), Jérôme Boateng (21) and the slightly older Sami Khedira (23) and Mario Gómez (24).  It was a gamble by Loew but in hindsight a calculated one.  Loew wisely retained the likes of Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and veteran striker Miroslav Klose to anchor that marauding ship. 

Fast forward two years and those players are the reason why the Germans are predicted by many (including this author) to win, or come close to winning, this year's European Championships.  And not just these Euros but the 2014 World Cup and maybe even the 2016 Euros.  

Despite this foundation Loew hasn't rested on his laurels and is in fact preparing the next upsurge with Mario Götze (20), André Schürrle (21) and İlkay Gündoğan (21) (although they haven't logged many minutes yet) leading that pack. 

Juxtapose them with the Matildas of the 2011 World Cup.  Tom Sermanni also selected a young squad with the team also playing some of the best football we have seen our women play.  Along the way Caitlin Foord, Emily van Egmond, Sam Kerr, Teigen Allen, Kyah Simon, Elise Kellond-Knight, Tameka Butt (just to name a few) all gained invaluable big tournament experience. 

A year on we are already beginning to reap the rewards with Foord and Allen performing like seasoned veterans on the weekend and Caitlin, in particular, tormenting the New Zealand defence and creating chance after chance with assurance. 

With the above group all but bedded in, you could forgive Sermanni and Spencer Prior if they stopped there.  But they haven't and they won't as evidenced by the five debutantes on the weekend with four of them 18 or under. 

Melbourne Victory BFFs Ashley Brown and Stephanie Catley, Canberra United duo Hayley Raso and Georgia Yeoman Dale and Young Matildas captain Alanna Kennedy all received their first senior caps alongside Sydney FC's Teresa Polias.  

Add to that list reserve goalkeeper Brianna Davey, Katrina Gorry (playing in Canada), Kahlia Hogg (in the US), Emily Gielnik (in England) and the injured Vedrana Popovic and Casey Dumont and a pleasing picture begins to emerge.  These dozen to two dozen players look set to be the foundation of the Matildas in the not too distant future.

New Matildas2
The next generation ready to take the big leap | Ann Odong

From the German model we learn that two things are crucial to the fulfilment of that talent.  One is investment (monetary and otherwise) and its importance is self-evident and cannot be overstated so I don't need to elaborate.* 

The other is getting the balance between youth and experience right. Like Loew demonstrated with his "kids", it's just not prudent to have team full of youngsters.  

The experienced campaigners must be retained for as long as possible (at 34 Klose is still going around!) and are essential to player development as well as sustaining the culture of the team ("Never say Die"). 

Truthfully there were a couple of moments in the World Cup where one or two more older heads would have been handy.  And just this weekend Melissa Barbieri, Thea Slatyer, Clare Polkinghorne and Sarah Walsh highlighted their worth.

The weekend demonstrated that there is still a ways to go, the main point is that we have an eye to the future and although they may be still a bit raw I have say the kids are alright. 

* Although I will note that the German football system (that is their FA, Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs) spends over €70m a year in youth development.  It is one of the largest investments for all clubs