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I could feel the fervent support and groundswell of goodwill for the Socceroos 13,000 kilometres away in Doha, and they could too.
To see tens of thousands of people at live sites all around the country, early on a Sunday morning, was some justification for everyone who has been on the mission of growing and promoting our great game in Australia.
The Socceroos did everyone, whether they're part of the mission, the newly converted, or the newest of newcomers, proud.
To win two matches and go toe-to-toe with the might of Argentina - the Socceroos were only one kick away from taking the match to extra-time - was beyond the wildest imaginations of most.
But it wasn't beyond their own.
Each time I spoke to Graham Arnold or any of the Socceroos, I truly believed that they believed.
They believed they would make it out of the group. They believed they would beat Denmark, and that they could beat Argentina.
And I believed, too. The Socceroos took me, and the Australian public, along with them.
Now, we need to go one better. We need to believe in our great game, and we need to believe in the power of football.
Football brings people together like no other sport on the planet.
There is no other sport that has a World Cup like football's, and despite the perception of football's place in the Australian sporting landscape, no other sport could replicate what we saw around the country yesterday.
Football is the world game, and Australia, with its mixed tapestry of cultures and backgrounds, fits perfectly on the world stage.
This is Australia's time to kick on, to re-imagine the game in our country, and to decide simply being there is not enough.
The Socceroos believed they belonged, and they showed they did.
We can no longer just accept we are a rugby league, AFL and cricket country, and that football should just be content to fit in somewhere.
The Socceroos' run to the last 16 and the interest it generated is a priceless opportunity for the game, so long a sleeping giant, to finally kick on, and sit alongside the other sports that help make Australia such a wonderful sporting country.
The ratings on SBS show the enormous care Australians can have for our game. The live sites, too.
Johnny Warren once predicted the conversation would one day move from asking when the Socceroos would qualify for a World Cup, to asking when they would win one.
The Socceroos have now qualified for the past five tournaments.
It's high-time the Australian public believed - as much as the Socceroos players and staff do - that we belong on the world stage, and that football can be Australia's game too.
