Australia, meet Massimo. Massimo, meet Australia. Massimo is an attacking midfielder. He plays for an English League One side called Swindon Town. They’re not much good.

But Massimo is, he might even be good enough to replace Marco Bresciano one day. Well, actually, on Friday night he did.

Before Massimo had it swooning, AAMI Park had the breath taken out of it like never before when his Socceroos went 1-0 down to Kuwait after eight minutes.

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But then again, the stadium’s never had Tim Cahill there to pump it back into shape.

The sell-out crowd of 25,231 went mute as Kuwaiti defender Hussain Fadhel ran to the six-yard box unmarked and headed home while the Socceroos offered some shambolic defending to a corner.

The eighth-minute goal came after a brilliant back heel from Al Enzi released Al Qahtani, whose cross was deflected out off a green and gold defender.

Near silence continued as the Socceroos tried to wrestle back the initiative and you could clearly hear from the stands the desperate players calling out to each other on the field.

In Tim we trust. Photo: Getty

But then in the 33rd minute Cahill was the familiar saviour that pushed hearts back into chests.

His goal came thanks to a neat link up between old and new.

Luongo jinked his way into the box (and Australia’s wider sporting consciousness) when he picked out the foot of who else but Cahill to score.

Then just before half-time nerves were well and truly settled as the man who provided the first scored the second with a lovely looped header into the far corner of the net.

Luongo is a creative midfielder who is always looking to be positive. Even when he receives the ball in a defensive position those at AAMI Park saw his muscles twitching in readiness to shift to attack mode if need be.

He is the attacking fulcrum Australia has craved to take the place of Bresciano.

His influence continued into the second half with a swift pass that saw Matthew Leckie shoot spectacularly into the crossbar.

Straight after that Robbie Kruse was taken down in the area, earning a penalty for Australia that the captain Mile Jedinak tucked away to make it 3-1.

Coach Ange Postecoglou then went into preservation mode.

Cahill was greeted with a rapturous ovation when Tomi Juric replaced him in the 65th minute. Postecoglou continued the changes, bringing on A-League top scorer Nathan Burns for Kruse in the 72nd minute.

As the game went on Australia’s attacking rhythm started to click quite nicely, with James Troisi, Leckie and Aziz Behich from the left flank causing Kuwait issues.

Burns, Troisi and Juric all had efforts saved impressively by Kuwait’s goalkeeper Hameed Youssef.

Australia’s attacking threats were rewarded in the fourth minute of added time when Leckie slalomed his way into the box to have Troisi nip a shot off his feet and past the Kuwaiti ‘keeper, making the final score 4-1.

Postcoglou will be delighted with that kind of offensive fluency but in light of the conceded goal and general organisation throughout the evening, a lot of work needs to be done defensively.

The Australian win was the first time a host nation had won their opening game of an Asian Cup since Singapore beat India in 1984.

There was even time enough for hometown hero Mark Bresciano to get 10 minutes near the end.

The nod to the boy from Rosanna in Melbourne’s northeast was a great way for the crowd to finish a match that began in a much nervier fashion.