Socceroos coach Graham Arnold wants to start a campaign to change the word “friendlies” to ”fixtures” when it comes to games like Thursday‘s against Argentina in China.
That’s because there will be nothing friendly about how his team “gets in the face” of the world champions, including superstar Lionel Messi, in what looms for some of the younger Socceroos as the biggest game of their careers.
A sold-out crowd of close to 70,000 is expected at the game in Beijing and the Socceroos have experienced the Messi effect in the lead-up, with hundreds of fans surrounding his hotel trying to catch a glimpse of the all-time great.
Arnold confirmed rising stars Jordan Bos and Aiden O’Neill, who weren’t part of the World Cup clash, would start and midfielder Keanu Baccus would get another shot at Messi too as the Australians look for revenge after a 2-1 loss to Argentina in the round of 16 in Qatar.
Arnold said the Socceroos would be “extremely aware” of 35-year-old megastar Messi but were confident the plans they used in Qatar could contain him this time.
“What we did at the World Cup, I felt that we did very, very well till about the 43rd minute (when he scored) and we’ll do the same again,” the Socceroos coach said from Beijing on Wednesday.
“It‘s not just about him … you can’t just focus on that one player, but obviously, be extremely aware of him when he when he is in possession. But as I said we’ll have a plan around him.”
The challenge of taking on the world champs has energy in the Socceroos’ camp “through the roof” and Arnold is hoping that translates to the full-on, dynamic play his team will need to keep Argentina under control.
“The focus needs to be on our own performance, and if there’s one thing that we could do better than what we did in the last was in possession,” he said.
“Keeping possession and making sure that we’re making them do some running and some chasing and we’ll be in their faces for 90 minutes defensively.”
Arnold conceded it would be up to several of the younger Socceroos to handle the occasion, but the fact so many are heading straight to Europe after the clash was testament to their ability.
“They are flying to Europe too because the European clubs have identified Australian talent,” he said.
“You come in to these types of occasions and see how platers handle it. They feel and they believe that they belong on this stage.
“The energy is through the roof and take that energy onto the field, anything can happen.”
With Arnold declaring he has “one eye on the Asian Cup and two eyes on the next World Cup”, the Socceroos boss said there was “no way” the Australians would be taking it easy against Messi’s men.
“I wish we could change the word friendly to fixture,” he said.
“When you put on that Australian badge over your heart, you put on that jersey, you get a cap, there’s no such thing as a friendly.
“It’s an international fixture and it’s an opportunity to go out there and continue to improve.
“Everything is about improvement, getting better, individually and as a group and making sure that every time we turn up, we’re ready to go out and do better.”
