If there were any big-name manager's doing some window shopping at Craven Cottage on Saturday they would have been pleased with what they would have seen.
The Socceroos' 1-0 win over Nigeria was a good way to end what had been a disastrous week for Football Federation Australia, which experienced first-hand the fickle nature of the highly-competitive managerial market.
Dick Advocaat's snub was exactly what Australian football's governing body could not afford after 18 months of uncertainty following Guus Hiddink's departure. The Asian Cup experience had re-enforced the need for a well-credentialed international manager to give Australia an edge both in tactical nous and in discipline and fitness.
Any potential suitor who would have tuned in to the match on Saturday would have seen a paddock full of raw talent, waiting to be moulded into a team worthy of playing among the world's best 32 in South Africa in 2010. Considering the players who were absent, it was a fantastic performance against an albeit diminished Nigerian side.
Harry Kewell's virtuoso first-half performance was the headline grabber as Australian football's one-time wunderkind reminded us all of exactly what he is capable of when given free rein, but it was the performance of the midfield which was most pleasing.
The major difference between the performances in Germany last year and those in Thailand and Vietnam in July was the fact that in the Asian Cup, the Australian midfield could not get a hold of the game. It seemed a long way from Allianz Arena in June 2006 when for a good part of the game against Brazil, the Socceroos had controlled the ball in the middle of the park against some of the biggest names in the sport.
But on Saturday, minus Tim Cahill, Jason Culina and Vince Grella, the four-man midfield of Nick Carle, Luke Wilkshire, David Carney and Carl Valeri, with considerable help from Kewell, controlled the play and dominated the match.
Carney and Carle have been the surprise packets of the post-Hiddink era. Both benefitted from their time in the A-League, and have then grown as players in England and Turkey respectively. Carle has always been regarded as prodigiously talented, but one-dimensional. He is a considerably better defensive player than he was two years ago, and adds a menacing threat from outside the box, something the Socceroos haven't had in recent times.
Carney has stunned everyone with his progress from a left winger to a versatile left-sided player who provides a real edge to what has been a troublesome side of the park for the Socceroos. He commanded his touchline in the win over Nigeria and would have gained much-needed confidence on the international level with his brilliant 30-yard cracker, which proved a deserved winner.
Wilkshire continues to be Mr Reliable on the right, giving a hard edge as well as options from the dead ball, while 'Mini Vinnie', Valeri, provided a great energy in defensive midfield, linking up well with the defence and giving support to Lucas Neill and Michael Beauchamp in their efforts to curtail the brilliant Obafemi Martins.
Kewell relished his role as a playmaker, setting up most of Australia's attacking forays with his brilliant passing and ability to read the play. His presence on the ball created space for Carle, Carney and Scott McDonald to cause plenty of headaches among an admittedly disorganised Nigerian defence. Much is expected of McDonald after his recent form for Celtic, and he did enough to give Australian fans an idea of why half of Glasgow rates him so highly.
The fact Rob Baan went with two smaller attacking players shows Australia has more than one string to its bow in creating scoring opportunities. In the Mark Viduka era, the emphasis was on getting the ball to the big man and getting the midfielders and Kewell to run off him. Josh Kennedy, so impressive in a similar role in the World Cup, was considered Viduka's heir apparent in this manner, but the synergy between Kewell and McDonald on Saturday showed that there's more than one way for the Socceroos to skin an opposition defence.
The defence would appear the most settled of the three areas, with Neill and Beauchamp having a mortgage of the central roles and the workhorse Brett Emerton providing support on the right. The left-back role is still not decided. Scott Chipperfield's return to the national side was short-lived, while Jacob Burns, forgotten since his efforts alongside Kewell and Viduka at Leeds at the turn of the century, looked to fit in well.
Neill's presence as on-field leader cannot be questioned, and he is the man most likely to assume the captaincy from Viduka permanently, but his role in the centre of a four-man defence is still debatable. He is a right-back by trade, but that doesn't fit in with the national team's structure. That issue wasn't exposed against Nigeria, who played 4-3-3, using Martins as its main weapon, but if a team comes at Australia with two out-and-out strikers, then the Aussies may find themselves in trouble.
Mark Schwarzer did everything asked of him on Saturday producing a number of excellent saves and reminding us all that it's going to take someone outstanding to push him into international retirement. However, he wasn't tested from the dead ball, which would be the one weakness you can pinpoint from his previous Socceroos performances.
Overall, it was a very positive report card and FFA will be hoping Jurgen Klinsmann or Gerard Houllier were watching with interest. Anyone interested in the job would have been considerably heartened by the performance of the Olyroos at Gosford on Saturday night.
That Under-23 team is chock full of talent who could slot in quite nicely to the senior team in the next few years, including Mark Milligan, Adrian Leijer, Danny Vukovic, David Williams, Nathan Burns, Bruce Djite and James Troisi.
Make no mistake, Advocaat's snub is a blow to FFA and the Socceroos, but if the organisation and the team itself move forward with the perspective that it is the Dutchman's loss, then the unpleasantness won't linger to affect the upcoming World Cup qualification campaign. Performances like those on Saturday will help us all forget that Advocaat turned his back on us.