The universe is repaying the Socceroos for their sacrifices during the COVID pandemic which built an unbreakable bond of mateship, coach Graham Arnold says.

Arnold believes COVID-related hardships are a key factor in his Australian squad’s unlikely journey to a World Cup knockout clash against Argentina.

“The universe is paying us back for all the hard work we have done,” Arnold told reporters.

“The universe is looking down on us and is repaying the support, the sacrifices, that the players and staff made through all that.”

The Socceroos meet Lionel Messi’s Argentina in a round of 16 encounter on Saturday night (0600 AEDT Sunday) in Qatar.

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Arnold reckoned without COVID, his squad may not have become just the second Socceroos outfit to reach the knockout phase of a World Cup.

Australia’s qualifying campaign began with 11 straight triumphs, a record streak for any nation during cup qualifiers.

And just four of the Socceroos’ 20 qualifiers were contested on home soil because of COVID complications, chiefly Australia’s border closures.

“We had some hard journeys,” Arnold said.

“But the best part of it is – and I’m trying to look at the positive, I do believe this has been crucial – COVID helped unite this team together and unite the culture, the family culture of brotherhood, mateship.

“These boys were in lockdown.

“When when we were in hotels, they couldn’t go off the floor they were on.

“They had to socialise with each other in the social room playing pool or table tennis or whatever.

“That really united the players as a family environment.”

Another COVID consequence was the Socceroos were forced to play four cup qualifiers in Doha.

“That gave us the experience of the air-conditioned stadiums, that gave us this experience of being here,” Arnold said.

“We have won six out of seven games here in Qatar, so we’re very familiar with the stadiums, the environment.

“It is, for us, a home away from home.”

The Australians were unbeaten in Doha in that stretch until their cup opening 4-1 loss to France.

But they rebounded with consecutive 1-0 victories against Tunisia and Denmark to become the first Socceroos team to win two games at one edition of the cup.

Arnold was acutely aware of the significance of their feats in following the 2006 Socceroos in reaching the round of 16.

“That’s one thing that we have achieved back in Australia, reuniting the nation after COVID, reuniting our sport of football,” he said.

“We have seen scenes of Fed Square and the celebrations back in Australia, it really makes everyone proud.

“And we want more. We haven’t finished yet.

“That’s the most important thing. We’re turning up to win another game tomorrow.”

Three things in Socceroos’ favour against Argentina — Arnold

One, having just two days to ponder their World Cup round of 16 clash against Lionel Messi’s team.

“I do believe the short turnaround is an advantage for us,” Arnold said.
“Because we don’t sit for five days wondering about the opposition or Argentina.”

Two, Arnold knows exactly what to expect from Lionel Messi’s team in their knockout fixture on Saturday night (0600 AEDT Sunday) in Qatar.
“They play two ways,” he said.

“Slow, to try and make you relax.

“But when you relax, that’s when they hit you.

“We have got to make sure that we’re on the whole time.”

And three, Arnold believes Australia’s footballers have always risen to the challenge of playing Argentina.

“Playing against that type of talent, that name resonates right across the world as a football nation,” he said.

“It’s inspiring for Australia to play against them.

“I believe you’re going to see the best … of every player on the pitch for Australia because of who we’re playing against.

“We have had a few games now against Argentina.

“We beat them in 1988, 4-1 in the Gold Cup in Australia.

“And also with the Olympic team, we beat them only last year, 2-0.

“I just think that Argentina bring the best out of Australia and performances every time against Argentina have been very strong and very good.”

Arnold was, perhaps deliberately, being selective with his memory.
The 1988 victory is the only time the Socceroos have defeated Argentina in seven attempts – the others resulted in five losses and a draw.

But he did play in the 1988 triumph. And also in the two-legged World Cup qualifiers of 1993 which the Australians lost 1-2 on aggregate.
“We weren’t expecting to play Argentina in those World Cup qualifiers,” Arnold said.

“They got beat 5-1 at home in Buenos Aires by Colombia … Maradona had retired and he’d put on a lot of weight.

“The fans, from the last five, 10 minutes of the (Colombia) game, were calling and singing for him to come back.”

Maradona answered the call and returned for the cup qualifiers against the Socceroos.

“He lost a lot of weight in six weeks,” Arnold said.

“I don’t think he had that much of an influence, in the first game he set up the goal for (Abel) Balbo in Sydney.

“You just couldn’t get near him to try and kick him, he was that smart.
“He’s such a great footballer and it’s one of my great memories to say that I played against him.”

Should the Socceroos win, they’ll advance to a quarter-final next Friday night (0600 AEDT Saturday) against the winners of the Netherlands-USA tie.

Argentina coach not surprised by Socceroos

Most of Australia is, but Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni insists he’s not shocked to meet the Socceroos in a World Cup knockout game.

“I wasn’t surprised, honestly, because they are a good national team,” Scaloni told reporters.

“We don’t need to be overly confident … it will be a tricky game.”

Scaloni’s side, ranked world No.3, enter their round-of-16 encounter on Saturday night (0600 Sunday) in Doha as the hottest of favourites.

But he downplayed the pressure of expectation against the 38th-ranked Australians.

“Whether they are inferior or not … I don’t fully agree,” he said.
“They are a good team and this is football, it is 11 vs 11, this is the reality.

“So we need to leave aside the favourites and we need to play the game.”

Scaloni highlighted Australian winger Mathew Leckie as among the chief threats but said he was most impressed by the Socceroos as a collective.

“They are playing in high levels and, especially, they are a team,” he said.

“And when you are facing a team it is always difficult – and by team I mean a national team with players who know what they want.

“They have very fast wingers and their main strength is their counter-attack so we need to be very careful.

“We will break our backs on this pitch to compete but we know how difficult this World Cup is, this is football.

“When you say big national teams deserve to be in the next stage, that doesn’t always happen.”

Doubts remain over the fitness of Argentina’s influential winger Angel di Maria, with the veteran substituted in their last game with an undisclosed injury.

“We hope he will be fine and will be able to play but I can’t tell you at the moment because we don’t have a clear picture,” Scaloni said.

Messi to play his 1000th professional game

KEY FACTS ABOUT ARGENTINA’S LIONEL MESSI

* The 35-year-old will play his 1000th professional game against Australia at the World Cup.

* Messi is among five players to feature at five World Cups, along with Mexico’s Antonio Carbajal and Rafael Marquez, Germany’s Lothar Matthaus and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

* He is one of five players to score in four editions of the World Cup, along with Brazil’s Pele, Germany’s Uwe Seeler and Miroslav Klose, and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

* Messi has played 22 World Cup games, only Germany’s Lothar Matthaus (25) and Miroslav Klose (24) and Italy’s Paolo Maldini (23) have played more.

* He has scored eight World Cup goals.

* Messi has been involved in 14 World Cup goals (eight goals, six assists). Only Germany’s Thomas Muller (10 goals, six assists) has been involved in more.

* He has created 58 scoring chances at World Cups, the most in history. Germany’s Mesut Ozil next-best with 48.

* Messi is looking to score in the knock-out stages of the World Cup for the first time – all previous goals have come in group games.

* He has had 23 scoring efforts without finding the net beyond the first round, though he did assist in the last 16 in each of the 2010, 2014 and 2018 editions.