When the Socceroos made history today by holding Croatia to a 2-2 draw in Stuttgart to book a first-ever place in the World Cup's final 16, a handful of people back home knew better than most how they felt.
And for those survivors of the 1974 Socceroos squad that represented Australia in its only other World Cup appearance, it was a stirring experience.
Jim Rooney played each of three games in that campaign but he admitted his nerves were jangling watching the current crop of Socceroos go one better than he did.
"I couldn't watch I was so nervous, it was torture," Rooney said.
"It's easier playing than watching, believe me, but it was worth it in the end.
"I know how they felt because I know what it's like to achieve things in the game, but they've raised the bar so high.
"It's great for the game. They've done a wonderful job."
Former coach Rale Rasic was the mastermind for that inaugural campaign and although he became the fall guy for the failure to win or score in former West Germany, he is widely considered a pioneer.
Part of SBS television's team of 2006 World Cup pundits, Rasic had tears in his eyes as he took part in the post-match discussion.
"This country has been ignored for too long," Rasic told AAP afterwards.
"Soccer has been ignored for too long but today the game is embraced by the majority of the Australian public.
"I feel the emotional part of that ... and what you saw on the television cameras is an expression of that."
Rasic said he was fiercely proud of the Socceroos' achievement in Germany of truly announcing their arrival on the world stage.
"This national team you cannot treat with disrespect, no one can underestimate us," he said.
Another `74 veteran Ray Richards echoed his former coach's sentiments, adding the Socceroos had overcome their fair share of obstacles on the night.
"(They were) absolutely sensational because I thought the boys did it really tough," Richards said.
"When I say that, I'm going to be honest here, the referee was diabolical, he was woeful ... we've got better ones going around the park at under-nines at Panania RSL."
A common theme on banners held proudly aloft by Australian fans at this World Cup is a saying the most famous of all the 1974 Socceroos, the late Johnny Warren, joked should be inscribed on his tombstone: "I told you so."
But his daughter Shannon said, while the Socceroos' performance today vindicated the faith her father had had in Australian soccer, he would have had a different phrase on his lips had he been alive to witness it.
"He wouldn't be saying `I told you so', he'd be saying `About bloody time'," she said.
"This is what he was fighting for all those years ... this is what he wanted."
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