England may have been knocked out of the World Cup but David Cameron can claim a better result after his first G20 summit.
The Prime Minister's approach has been very different than that of his predecessor Gordon Brown, whom he succeeded last month. Cameron has preferred what he calls "quiet diplomacy" to Brown's more strident approach.
He seems to have got at least some of what he wanted. The joint G20 statement, which foresees differing approaches to economic growth, endorses his coalition government's tough budget measures announced earlier in the week.
"I think the British budget has been noticed here in the G20 and has been appreciated," Chancellor George Osborne said.
Citing the summit communique, he said the group had formally recognized that "countries with serious fiscal challenges need to accelerate the pace of dealing with them, and of course that is exactly what the budget did."
Some had predicted tensions with the White House after US President Barack Obama warned recently that G20 leaders should avoid the mistakes of the 1930s and not withdraw stimulus too soon. That apparently did not happen.
