Socceroos wish for grassroots growth

And the players believe their quest to win the hearts and minds of Australians, particularly children, was as important as their exploits on the pitch in Qatar.

"We hope that we have inspired the young generation to push themselves," winger Craig Goodwin said.

'We hope that what we have achieved can help grow the game back home.

"Because the A-League is better than it is perceived. The quality of Australian football is better than it's perceived.

"It has been that way for a long time but hopefully what we have achieved can put Australian football on the map and help the game grow."

The Socceroos depart Qatar proud of their success but desiring to parlay it for a long-lasting impact on Australian football.

"Hopefully we can inspire more younger players to want to play for their country and play at this level," striker Jamie Maclaren said.

"I hope it puts fire in the belly for fans and really inspires kids and families to come watch our games.

"I just hope there is going to be a generational shift, that us boys coming back from the World Cup can inspire younger kids and families to come to games because that is we need."

Maclaren, Goodwin, Mathew Leckie, Garang Kuol and Jason Cummings are all A-Leaguers who featured at the World Cup - and they didn't look out of place on the world stage.

Only Ajdin Hrustic (Italy's Serie A) and Awer Mabil (Spain's La Liga) play in leagues considered among the world's top-flight. Kuol will soon join them when he shifts to English Premier League side Newcastle in January.

But Melbourne City's Leckie said the unsung Socceroos proved their worth.

"We have been knocked out of the tournament by one of the best nations in the world (Argentina) and we lost to the defending champions (France) in the group stage," Leckie said.

"We have proved to a lot of people that we can really compete at the top level.

"There's not that many people that really believed that ... but we just showed how much heart we really do have.

"We might not be, in the world scale, the best individual players but I do believe we're the best team collectively ... we achieved what no one thought we could ever achieve."

After an opening 4-1 loss to France, the Australians downed Tunisia and Denmark, both 1-0, to become just the second Socceroos side to advance to the group stage, following the famous 2006 edition.

They were knocked out by Argentina, 2-1, after giving Lionel Messi's team a run for their money.

"So disappointed that it has come to an end but I am also filled with pride," midfielder Jackson Irvine said.

"Every single person - staff, player - we built something really special with the mentality.

"We pushed a world class team until the last kick of the game."

Now, to kick on.

"What we have done is great for the sport in the country and great for us as a team," midfielder Riley McGree said.

"But moving forward, we have to back these things up."

How? Goodwin said much relied on junior development.

"It comes from the grassroots of Australian football," the Adelaide United captain said.

"The more we can do and the better we can build to train and coach the young players to match it with the best in the world, then the better chance we have in the future of doing even better at these tournaments.

"We have the Aussie DNA, the Aussie spirit.

"But if we can produce the same level of technical ability and tactical ability as some of the European nations, some of the South American nations, if we can hit that mark in those aspects, and then have the Aussie DNA, then we have a real chance to do something special.

"We always believe in ourselves but there's work to be done."

Australian Associated Press