It's been a pain in the arse watching major championships when we've not been there, especially the last World Cup, having gone so close.
After François Zahoui had gone so close with Ivory Coast last year, it's hard to see the logic of the Ivorian federation appointing the inexperienced Sabri Lamouchi.
True, they might not have gone so close on Saturday had Saracens chased a bonus point try with less abandon, but the Falcons of old would have lacked the sharpness to strike on the counterattack.
The pressure would be too much for most but Li has blossomed into a real contender and, having gone so close in Melbourne this year, she is desperate to go one better.
They were already the first home quarter-finalists since 1993 and having gone so close, they will probably replay the two chances they had to make it 5-4 in the fifth for a while yet.
Gideon Haigh in the Australian, salutes the wicketkeeper's resurgence: "Haddin certainly deserves better than to be remembered as the man who lost this Test match for Australia when he had gone so close to being the one who won it.
"After getting beat by Germany, having gone so close and played so well, that was a huge disappointment.
So what has gone so wrong?
There would be a question for us, in revisiting the text too soon, that we would have major doubts; that, rather than making progress, we could even complicate things as we saw when we had gone so far at the closing Sessions on Monday evening when we went in reverse.
And there is a tangible lack of an emotional connection between Romney and most voters that still -- at this late date and with everything having gone so profoundly well -- keeps Romney from closing the deal, both in Iowa and with Republican voters nationally.
