A second string Socceroos squad barely broke into a yawn in getting past Indonesia in Brisbane on Wednesday night. Like many of the performances under Pim Verbeek, it was far from spectacular but the end, the three points which got them to Qatar 2011, justified the means.
With the exception of the spark that was Tommy Oar down the left wing, Australia's performance in Brisbane was ho-hum and answered no questions about the ability of the A-League's best to step up to international level.
The tempo of the match resembled a training session conducted on a 40 degree day, the day after a club Christmas Party. While the Socceroos bossed possession to an extraordinary extent (over 70 percent), they created little in attack and were fortunate to get the goal they did from an unlikely source in Mark Milligan.
Australia repeatedly took the negative passing option, going sideways and backwards before gambling on a long ball which usually resulted in nothing. The best chances either came from an Indonesian mistake or a dead ball situation, while the only three players on the park who seemed interested in playing attacking football were Oar, Jason Culina and Luke Wilkshire.
Oar lit up Suncorp Stadium with his dashing runs down the wing and looks the exact type of player Australia will need if it is to perform well in Asia over the next 10 years. It was as impressive a debut as there has been under Verbeek's reign and he is a star of the future.
Culina was intent in making a point. He prefers an attacking playmaker role to the holding midfielder he has been typecast as in recent years and given the chance to play in a more creative position, did a good job as both a captain and as a player.
Wilkshire is by far the most improved Socceroo from the World Cup campaign in Germany, with his excellent passing and versatility all important to Australian sides of whatever strength. On Wednesday he set up the lion's share of Australia's chances and will be a crucial player in this year's World Cup.
Conversely, Josh Kennedy has not taken the steps Australia would have hoped since he burst onto the scene four years ago. Clearly out of match practice with the J-League not underway until this weekend, Kennedy lacked the pace and verve which has made him a handful in previous matches for his country.
He certainly isn't the first Australian striker to struggle in that lone central attacking role which has become a hallmark of Verbeek's tenure. It's a tough role to play, especially in a low tempo game with the ball being continually lobbed high into the box.
While opposition sides have been accused of being obsessed with Kennedy's height, his Australian team-mates could be guilty of the same thing. Bombing long balls into the box only made it easier for the defenders to mark him. Australia is seriously naïve if it thinks those tactics will work in South Africa.
There will be those, including Verbeek, who will argue that the point is moot because the desired result was achieved in Brisbane. But there is a couple of bigger factors at play here, stretching beyond the World Cup, when Verbeek will no longer be concerned with Australian football.
The first is that there are no clear successors to the current generation of senior Socceroos, most of whom are expected to retire after South Africa. With the exception of Oar, no-one put forward a strong case for consideration when a largely A-League based squad is selected for the 2011 Asian Cup next January.
The second factor is the marketability of the Socceroos brand. While international football has taken giant steps in terms of profile in the past four years, it has been built more on national fervour than exciting football. Verbeek's reign has been ever so pragmatic and while that may have played a large role in getting the Socceroos onto the big stage in terms of continental and international football, will it continue to drag people through the gates?
The lesson of one-day cricket is that the 'build it and they will come' mentality is highly flawed in what is a competitive battle for the entertainment dollar. Socceroos games are by no means a cheap entertainment experience and if people don't feel they are getting value then they will turn their attention elsewhere. That hits at the bottom line for an already financially fragile FFA.
As Verbeek wishes, at the end of his time in charge he will be judged by the end, rather than the means. But the only end that matters both financially to FFA and to Socceroos fans is a World Cup performance at least equal to that of 2006. Anything less and Verbeek's time as Socceroos coach will be viewed as a failure.