As they start their search for a replacement manager this week, the Dutch FA were left with more reason than ever to curse their recently departed one over the weekend.
Had they, rather than the Irish, been involved in Saturday's long and drawn out but ultimately rather satisfying draw for next summer's World Cup finals, and ended up being grouped with an ailing German side as well as Cameroon and Saudi Arabia, they'd already be looking like the outside bet of the tournament.
Instead, Louis van Gaal was punished for his mistakes by Mick McCarthy in Dublin back in September and it is the Irish coach who received the reward he deserved in the form of a draw that makes a place in the second round an eminently achievable target for the Republic.
Of the 11 European nations who went into the hat at the weekend, the four who were drawn with the two host nations might all be said to have been more fortunate than Ireland. Few, though, would envy the task of England, Croatia or even Denmark as they try to get out of what look like being far trickier groups.
The Saudis, though a respectable side, should not, if the Irish themselves play as well as they can, stand in the way of Ireland's progression to the last 16 next summer. And so McCarthy's task will almost certainly come down to getting the better of his opposite numbers with Germany and Cameroon.
Rudi V÷ller's task might well prove to be the most difficult of any of the group's managers. The steady decline of the German side in recent years has prompted a steady stream of recriminations amongst the players themselves. Oliver Bierhoff remains excluded from the team, though there are those who still think that he might provide some sort of solution to Germany's continuing problems up front.
Clearly, there are already the makings of just the sorts of divisions that proved so costly in Belgium and Holland last year.
In the end, it seems unlikely that V÷ller will recall Bierhoff (whose replacement in attack may be Sebastian Deisler, the country's most notable rising star and a member of the German team beaten by Ireland in the final of the European Youth Championships three years ago in Cyprus).
Nor does it seem likely that he will be able to sort out the sort of defensive frailties so ruthlessly exposed by England in Munich in September.
The combination of power and speed in attack that worked so well for the English that evening is not, of course, at McCarthy's disposal and so Ireland's second game of these championships promises to be a tough encounter.
It is, nevertheless, one that the Irish can go into with some optimism, much more than if the Germans were at anything close to their best.
Much, though, will depend on how the opening game against Cameroon goes, and it will probably be much closer to the tournament before we get a real sense of how their team is shaping up.
Before France they were rather well regarded, and yet when they arrived they were poor defensively and incapable, it seemed, of avoiding an over-reliance on individual ball skills when trying to make their way into the opposition's area. The result was a rather tame elimination after the group stages.
Since then they have won both the Olympics and the African championships, and the depth of the squad has been broadened as some of African football's brightest young stars, players like left winger Serge Branco, defender Pierre Wome and striker Samuel Eto'o, all heroes of the Sydney gold medal-winning side, have become part of the senior squad.
In short, McCarthy has a good deal to weigh up over the coming month, but having done so much over the past 15 months to erase the previously significant doubts about his managerial abilities, he has now been presented with a fine opportunity to prove how far he and this still improving side really have come together.
