It is many mornings after the night before and the eve of what Graham Arnold hopes will be their greatest night of all – although Buenos Aires 1993 might take some beating. “I was talking about that in the car on the way here,” Australia’s head coach says. “It’s one of my great memories.” Back then, as a striker sporting a magnificent mullet and a moustache, he faced Diego Maradona for a place at the World Cup; 29 years on, the team he leads face Lionel Messi for a place in the quarter-finals for the first time in the country’s history.
“When I think back to my playing career, that’s one of the highlights of my life: to be able to play the qualifiers against Argentina in Australia and Buenos Aires but I’ve had a few highlights with Argentina,” Arnold says. “We beat them in the 1988 Gold Cup and with the Olympic team only last year. I just think they bring the best out of us and we go into tomorrow with a lot of belief and a lot of energy: it’s a big one. The name resonates around the world, as a footballing nation. It’s inspiring for Australia to play them.”
