The irrepressible Lionel Messi has once again delivered the Socceroos’ undoing as Australia fought out a 2-0 loss to world champions Argentina in Beijing.
Graham Arnold’s charges had hoped to exact some revenge in Thursday night’s friendly for their 2-1 round-of-16 loss at last year’s World Cup.
But six months on from their Qatar clash, Messi needed just 79 seconds to score his 103rd international goal and break the deadlock at a packed-out Workers’ Stadium.
While the Socceroos were shellshocked early, they found their groove and took it up to the world champions.
Mitch Duke was denied by a brilliant Emiliano Martinez save in the 28th minute while left-back Jordan Bos, on his starting debut, and Riley McGree were excellent.
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But German Pezzella headed home in the 68th minute to put the game beyond Australia’s reach.
Australia made four changes to December’s starting XI, switching to a 4-2-2 in attack, while Argentina made two changes.
In Qatar, the Socceroos held out Messi for close to 35 minutes.
This time, the resistance lasted until the second minute.
Mathew Leckie got the ball trapped under his feet and Enzo Fernandez nipped it away, bursting forward before finding Messi outside the box.
The 35-year-old shimmied onto his left foot and curled a lovely strike past a diving Mat Ryan to score in a seventh straight international.
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Three minutes later, Alexis MacAllister fired over the bar.
After the first 10 minutes, Australia had just 17 per cent of possession.
But they started to get a foothold in the game, then came desperately close to equalising.
Keanu Baccus whipped a lovely ball out wide to Bos, who perfectly drove a clever cross into Duke’s feet.
The striker’s first-time finish forced Martinez to parry the ball onto his own goal post, then claim it.
In the 37th minute, Messi ghosted away from Kye Rowles, but chipped over the bar.
Ryan swatted away a super Angel Di Maria chance in the 49th while at the other end, Martinez scrambled away a clever Socceroos corner routine in the 58th minute.
Argentina all but put things to bed when Rodrigo De Paul brilliantly combined with Messi then dropped a lovely ball onto the head of an unmarked Pezzella.
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Ryan denied Julian Alvarez with a super diving save two minutes later, but the Socceroos were unable to hit back on the scoreboard.
Australia also paid tribute to 1974 World Cup coach Rale Rasic, who died on June 8.
The Socceroos wore warm-up kits saying “Thanks Rale”, while a shirt with “Rasic 74” occupied one of the seats in their dugout.
-AAP
