After managing his country to three defeats in the 2014 World Cup's group of death, Ange Postecoglou knows just how punishing this tournament can be.
So he was left delighted to see Australia execute a canny gameplan to perfection as they made a winning start to the World Cup with a 2-0 victory over Turkiye.
Tony Popovic's side were happy to let the opposition have plenty of the ball as they sat deep and picked the opposition off with a pair of clinical counter-attacks.
Australia
The United States of America had set the standard for their Group D rivals with their thumping 4-1 victory over Paraguay on Friday evening, and in truth neither side lived up to that here.
But the Socceroos showed they can be dangerous in their own way as they played out their gameplan to perfection against Turkiye.
After pretty comfortably absorbing Turkiye's best efforts to break them down, Australia fired themselves into the lead against the run of play with a brilliantly incisive counter-attack.
Watford's Nestory Irankunda had a lot to do after racing onto a long ball to the left wing, but stylishly zagged into the box before smashing an unstoppable effort past the wrong-footed goalkeeper.
That left Turkiye with the task of breaking down an Australia side that were only too happy to put then men in their own third and wait for the next opportunity to hit them the break or from a set piece.
Massive skipper Harry Souttar went close through the latter route, forcing a second-half save out of Ugurcan Cakir from a corner.
Turkiye had long since resorted to trying fruitless long shots - although surprise goalkeeper selection Patrick Beach had to be at his best to deny Real Madrid star Arda Guler from a free kick.
And Australia took another step closer to victory as they broke forward from the halfway line for Connor Metcalfe to drill into the bottom corner from 25 yards.
Postecoglou was unfortunate to be drawn alongside the Netherlands, Chile and Spain when he was in charge in 2014, with the Aussies going out alongside Spain without earning a point.
But he believes they now have a real chance of getting through to the knockouts if they can replicate this kind of performance against Paraguay and the USA in their remaining games.
Acting as a pundit on ITV, he said: "It was really special. I'm probably the least surprised - I know Turkiye were the favourites, but I know what's in that dressing room, that Australian spirit.
"It's not by chance they won tonight - it was well deserved. They set up a certain way, very disciplined, and they had the quality. Both goals were quality goals.
"I'm very proud of the coaching staff, the lads, and Australia. It's the middle of the day there on a Sunday, so I reckon the pubs will be going full bore!"
