"We’d only seen him on TV. And it’s not quite the perception you really see. He worked so hard off the ball with runs, working to help his teammates, you don’t necessarily see it.

"The workrate was phenomenal. And it was nice and simple, get it and lay it off. That’s when you realise what a great player he is.

"Necaxa was very, very impressive. They had a couple of Ecuadorians from the World Cup, I think Augistin Delgado and the other was captain of Ecuador. And three or four from the Mexican national team.

"We had a solid,five-man defence and four across the middle with one striker. We realized we couldn’t compete so we just made sure to make it as hard as possible.

"And then we knew we could create a few chances with Paul Trimboli and Michael Curcija." 

John Anastasiadis scored South's only goal of the tournament in a 3-1 loss to Necaxa. United and Vasco both defeated South 2-0. 

And for Panopoulos, he's still there. Doing deals and driving past the Maracana like it's the Bolte Bridge.