As we approach the 2014 World Cup Final, we can extract some lessons from the finalists and, given Asia's meagre return, pose an argument for a new competitive structure on our continent.
In keeping with the past few unbelievable days, we go back in time for the final to 1990 and 1986 before that.
Argentina versus Germany is not only a remake of former classics, it confirms the difficulty that other countries - particularly those in the faltering Asia confederation - face in breaking the hegemony of the big four nations.
Aside from Uruguay sixty years ago and England almost fifty, only France and Spain have been able to break the hold in modern times.
Make no mistake, this is the toughest trophy to win in world sport, so Australia and Asia need to think creatively.
When we see a power like Brazil wrestle with player development and philosophical questions in the wake its semi-final humililaition to Germany – a throwback to the hammerings of 1938 - we realize just how hard it is to maintain excellence in this sport. It was so extreme, so punishing, it is hard to know what the fallout will be in Brazil. Hopefully, as painful as it is, they will use as to recognise what we already knew, they have fallen behind.
Even the greats make mistakes, they are inevitable. The most important thing is to be committed to a change process and maintain flexibility along the way.
This is where Australia and Asia has an edge by being agile.
Brazil will find change extremely tough because of the weight of history. We are only just writing ours and aren't tied to decades of dogma. We can adapt at lightning speed as our thinking evolves.
We need to ensure our football ecosystem is designed and managed in such a way that change can be implemented fast across all levels, new tools adopted and new thinking assimilated.
Like Spain in 2010, Germany has demonstrated the importance of a strategy, an integrated program and strong club football. Argentina presents a clear vision and youth consistency.
Germany has continued to evolve and Pep Guardiola's influence at Bayern was fortuitous in the context of the World Cup.
Pep brought Spain's tiki taka to Germany amid skepticism from some of the greats like Franz Beckenbauer. Pre 2010 Germany would never have believed in such possession of the ball, yet this was the final piece of their football puzzle - a Catalan finishing school to take the last step to glory.
Whether now, or in 2018, Germany will win again, in part from Guardiola's influence on its midfield.
After Barcelona's influence over Spain in 2010, some have gone so far as to say this may be Pep's second World Cup win.
In 2010, Spain's nucleus from Barcelona was dominating club football. In 2014 we're seeing it again from Germany's core of Bayern players. At least six, sometimes seven, players from the Bavarian club are replicating for Germany what Barcelona did for Spain in South Africa.
We also learnt of the value of youth international football from both nations.
Argentina's players have been together in youth tournaments, with great success, for the past twenty years, winning five of seven tournaments between 1995 and 2007. Along with Messi, five other players from the semi-final against Netherlands participated in the World Youth Cup triumph of 2005. This is fundamental to their success and achieves a way of playing and consistency through the ages.
Six Germans from the 2009 Under-21 European Championships win were in the starting team against Brazil.
Over the past two World Cups we have seen national teams winning because they have found mechanisms to become more like most successful club teams.
The ramifications of this are challenging for Australia and Asia, since we are unlikely to supply seven players to the next great UEFA Champions League club.
Asia flopped in 2014, so we cannot yet rely on Asian competition to create optimal conditions for success. It will take decades for the quality to be that high.
Yet we need the major part of our national team playing together regularly to have any chance of competing at that level.
With the potential riches on offer in Asia this continent's domestic competitions, especially in China, will ultimately be able to compete with Europe for talent, but not quickly enough for us.
In my view there is only one solution: a Pan-Asian Super League.
This would fulfill all the requirements for success by providing competition, the environment for youth development and for keeping national teams largely intact.
The competition would have one or two teams from each of the major Asian nations with a limited number of berths for foreign stars. With the potential broadcast rights quickly equaling those in Europe, clubs could outbid their European counterparts to attract the best talent. The major endorsements for players in future will be in Asia, anyway.
Australia could pay our young stars seen in Brazil several million dollars a year, keep them together against very high quality competition, attract million dollar coaches (whether from abroad or Australia), and maintain control over the playing style and development of our team.
Each participant would have youth teams playing in the same competition, providing international competition year round, allowing our best to develop cohesion in the same way as both World Cup finalists have.
Domestic competitions could benefit from financial windfalls, as well as become feeder systems to the Pan-Asian league, giving rise to the possibility that on a rotating basis, players could be brought up and back to play in either competition.
This structure would provide all the conditions for rapid development of Australia and its Asian rivals. It is the only way we can maintain philosophical and directional control, as well as provide rewards on a scale to match Europe, to keep players together to attack subsequent World Cups.
The AFC Champions League remains intact but is inadequate for all our aims. Having Western Sydney Wanderers or Melbourne Victory play other domestic clubs provides only a small part of the competitive answer, since it is only a handful of games and each A-League club represents only a fraction of the national team.
There is every reason why a Super League and a Champions league can and should coexist.
If we play by the same rules as Europe and South America, we lose for a very long time to come. Our first opportunity will come by 2046, I argue, but such a league would expedite this process not just for us, Japan, Korea and, critically, China, whose commercial market can power the competition.
Like Australian football, being relatively young provides agility and flexibility and Asia needs to maneouver quickly and innovatively to achieve our collective aims.
An Asian Super League is the solution.