australia

Our third and final match played out as many would have expected before the tournament. It was always going to be difficult to score without Cahill and we lacked some of the energy and verve of our first two matches. In the end Spain won comfortably.

This game will probably remembered as one of the all-time World Cup classics. Ultimately though, for Australians, we'll look back at one that got away. The margins of error were tiny, but we were on the wrong end of them.

The new look Socceroos battled bravely, but in the end their inexperience cost them dearly. A 1-3 loss pretty much confirms we won't get out of the group stage (not that there was much chance of that anyway). We fought back from a poor start and with a little more luck might have salvaged a draw, but in the end were left lamenting what might have been.

There has been some upheaval in the Socceroos since our last match. Osieck is gone and Postecoglou is in the hot seat. A fresh approach has been promised and a rebuilding of the Socceroos for the World Cup finals and the Asian Cup (and even beyond). There has been a lot of debate about who should be captain, with Neill retaining the job for this match. A few older players have been dropped and legendary goalkeeper, Schwarzer, announcing his retirement and some younger players have been given their chance.

A second humiliation in a little over a month. The situation looks dire for the World Cup next year (and even the Asian Cup in 2015). Our team simply cannot compete against quality opposition at the moment. Our failure to regenerate our team under Verbeek and Osieck cannot be ignored any longer. It's hard to see Osieck doing that and the calls for his head will be loud and long. (UPDATE: Osieck has been sacked by Gallop.)

Brazil handed us an absolute football lesson in the early hours of the morning. Osieck described it as a "valuable lesson", but it was hard to see much value there. We were outpaced and outplayed by a younger, superior team. Brazil has completely regenerated their team since the last time we played them. We haven't. There will be calls for Osieck's head after this and demands for new blood. We've got so much work to do in the next nine months.

A high scoring, but ultimately fruitless match, as Australia went down 3-4. We finished the tournament with a single point from three matches. From that point of view it was disappointing. On the plus side, many young players were given their opportunity. It will be interesting to see what sort of squad Osieck looks to build for Rio 2014.

Our second match saw an improvement. We fought back from 0-2 down to level the scores with some good play, only to concede shortly after and eventually go down 2-3. A better effort.

With World Cup qualification sealed, this tournament was an opportunity to be experimental. Osieck used newcomers and A-League players and came away with a 0-0 draw. Not a bad result, and by all accounts, we were lucky, having been thoroughly outplayed.

Far from a comfortable win, this was an extremely tense match. In bitterly cold and wet conditions, the Socceroos triumphed 1-0 against a valiant Iraq side to claim their place at Brazil 2014.