Even if Ange Postecoglou's Socceroos fail to win their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying group they should still be able to gather enough points to secure one of the four spots in the final phase allocated to the best runners-up.
It's the manner of the defeat in Amman not the result itself however that has set the alarm bells ringing.
When the Socceroos undeservedly lost 1-0 to Korea Republic in Brisbane in the group phase of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, they did so despite producing arguably their best football in the tournament.
They displayed some marvellous attacking stuff in Suncorp's oppressive heat and created many scoring chances but they could not convert them into goals so there was no need to be overly concerned by the little debacle.
The events in Jordan, however, tell a very different story.
Apart from an opening 15 minutes in which the team showed positive signs without creating too much in terms of scoring opportunities, Australia was generally outplayed from a technical and tactical perspective and can have no complaints about a 2-0 defeat.
Jordan was clearly the better team and cleverly exploited a Socceroos' weakness which emerged in their previous group matches against Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan but few took much notice: it's a glaring vulnerability to the counter-attack.
The two 'Stans' caught the Socceroos napping on several occasions when their attacks broke down but fortunately they were not strong enough to take full advantage.
The Jordanians however are made of sterner stuff and ran through Australia's slow and cumbersome defence like a hot knife cuts through butter, scoring twice and coming desperately close on at least two other occasions.
The main reason for Australia's vulnerability is because its midfielders are not offering their defence adequate cover.
It is not a numbers issue because at times the Socceroos looked like having five midfielders in Amman.
The problem lies in the attitude and characteristics of the team's midfielders who are too attack-minded and do not always drop back quickly enough when possession is lost, particularly in dangerous areas.
On several occasions Australia's four defenders and anchor man Mark Milligan were stranded and could not cope with Jordan's long balls from defence into space which its pacey forwards exploited.
The team seemed unbalanced.
The problem would not have had any consequences if Australia's midfield was able to create enough scoring chances to compensate but it did not.
So what we had was a home team that was prepared to sit back, wait for the Socceroos to lose the ball in confined areas and catch them on the break when the space opened up at the other end of the field.
It worked a treat and I am sure that when Australia, as expected, progresses to the final phase of qualification for a spot in the Russian finals rival coaches will run through the tape of the match in Amman and immediately see it as the blueprint on how to try to beat the Socceroos.
Postecoglou needs to sort out his midfield conundrum and pick the right combination that would give the team the balance it badly needs and provide enough protection for the defenders and creativity to spark the forwards.
This does not mean that the Asian champion Socceroos should shy away from their resolve to become a bold, strong and attractive team on the world stage.
Postecoglou is on the right track, no doubt about that, but he needs to tweak his midfield set-up if Australia is to reach its lofty ambition.
Massimo Luongo, for example, is not a player who can express himself at his best on the right flank even though he does come in occasionally and has proven to be more useful on the middle areas, as he showed fleetingly in the latter part of the game in Amman after the largely ineffective Tom Rogic went off.
Mathew Leckie is seen by many fans as the logical man for the right or left winger's role with veteran Tim Cahill or young Tomi Juric playing at the point of the attack.
This is a challenging time for the Socceroos and it is looking increasingly likely that Postecoglou might very soon have to make the big decision of picking either Rogic or Luongo, assuming he persists with his favoured three-man midfield.
These issues were raised after Australia's much easier matches against Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh and Tajikistan.
Jordan has shown clearly that the Socceroos team is still a work in progress and is not yet where it wants to be.
