Australia won the Asian Cup 2-1 in extra-time against South Korea in a final that provided a fitting end to a fine tournament.
This was a clash beautiful in its intensity, drama, tension and the way it demanded your attention for every sweat-soaked second.
There were moments of quality (a great goal from Massimo Luongo) and chaos (South Korea finished the 90 minutes with four centre-backs and no centre-forwards on the pitch) and it ended, as many thought it would, with Australian hands on the trophy.
Yet it was far from easy. The Socceroos, beaten finalists in 2011, were pushed for every moment by the Koreans, who had nothing left to give when the final whistle was blown. They collapsed to the ground, tired, exhausted and devastated, but there should be pride and satisfaction, even if there is a feeling that the trophy should be heading to Seoul and not staying in Sydney.
But that is the way it should be in a final. The uncertainty as to the outcome was precisely why it was so enjoyable for the neutral and precisely why it was not for the 76,000 in the stadium -- and the 18 million expected to be tuning in back home in the Land of the Morning Calm.
Australian coach Ange Postecoglou was always going to be judged on what happened in January, and this is vindication. The next few days and weeks are as good as it gets.
The last few hours were as tense as it gets too. Uli Stielike will take plenty of plaudits for taking over a team in chaos just four months ago and almost delivering a first title for 55 years. Korea were on top when Luongo, just before the break, looked to have won the final with a goal that was worthy of doing just that. Yet in the dying seconds of the game, Son Heung-min equalised to silence the stadium, apart from the pocket of Red Devils who never stopped singing.
Extra-time resembled two heavyweights trying to land a punch when they could and hanging on for dear life when they couldn't. Such clashes are settled either by mistakes or magic, and in this case it was the former. The excellent Kim Jin-su, perhaps the left-back of the tournament, allowed Tomi Juric to open the way for James Troisi to get the decisive goal. Korea, even with the impressive Ki Sung-yueng, Cha Du-ri and Son Heung-min giving everything, could not beat Mat Ryan a second time.
It is these names that have helped the tournament shine. Luongo, playing for Swindon Town in England's third tier, was named the MVP. If Korea had won, that prize would likely have gone to Ki of Swansea City. Son has become a superstar, and Ryan has done his chances of the rumoured move to Liverpool no harm at all. Add these names to the likes of Omar Abdulrahman, Ali Mabkhout, Yaser Kasim, Sardar Azmoun and Wu Lei, who have been introduced to a continental and global audience for the first time.
Regardless of the result on Saturday night, Australia had already won off the pitch. Over 650,000 fans have flocked to games, which breaks the 20,000 average, a hurdle previously vaulted by only China 2004.The organisation has been excellent and the football, while up and down, genuinely entertaining. There have been classic games --Iran vs. Iraq in the quarterfinal will never be forgotten -- great goals, a little controversy and plenty of talking points. What the 2015 Asian Cup needed to push the needle from good to great was an epic final. And this was it. What would the last few World Cups, competitions without such an exciting last game since 1986, have given for a game such as this?
The win will surely herald a new era for Australian football, but this is something for the future. The 2015 Asian Cup has shown that there is excitement, passion, a high degree of sportsmanship and no little skill to be found on the world's biggest continent. It was even capped off by a healthy amount of booing of FIFA boss Sepp Blatter .
With the Africa Cup of Nations currently demanding its share of the planet's attention, the Asian Cup has made a significant claim for this tournament to have third place in the continental global hierarchy. That is another topic worthy of debate, but another one for the future.
For now, Australia can bask in its success. These two teams treated Asia and the world to a final that will be remembered for a long time to end a tournament that will never be forgotten.