BONN -- When it came to the crunch, Guus Hiddink got it right and Zico got it woefully wrong.

News photoJapan's Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (left), Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (center) and Juji Nakazawa walk off the pitch following their 3-1 loss to Australia in a World Cup Group F match on Monday in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Japan's capitulation at the hands of Australia boiled down to coach Hiddink's brave decision to go for broke by throwing on two extra strikers as the Aussies trailed to Shunsuke Nakamura's contentious first-half opener.