Arnie’s World Cup warning as next gen unleashed; where Socceroos ‘need to be better’ — Talking Pts

Some Lionel Messi magic was enough to see Argentina take a 2-0 win over the Socceroos on Thursday night.

But while the 2022 World Cup Champions may have claimed the victory, there were plenty of positives to take out of the result for Graham Arnold’s side.

From the emergence of the next generation of Socceroos stars to a new formation firing, here are some of the key talking points from Thursday’s game in Beijing.

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Before the match, Arnold repeatedly emphasised: “I’ve got one eye on the Asian Cup, but I’ve got two eyes on the next World Cup.”

That is to say, 2026’s showpiece tournament is the ultimate goal, while next January’s Asian Cup is a stepping stone.

2026 is far away, but it’s clear that Arnold is looking to develop a team for the long term.

Arnold said post-match: “The purpose of this game and the plan I had before this game was obviously to give youngsters a chance ... when you’re playing the world champions like that it’s obviously a good learning curve for a lot of people.”

He added: “Overall, the most pleasing thing was: There’s some kids coming. We’ve just got to expose them. And give them the opportunity to be exposed against this type of opposition.”

Of the 23-man squad for this fixture, 16 had 10 international caps or fewer when selected.

That included five of the 11 starters (Rowles, Atkinson, Baccus, O’Neill, Bos). The average squad age was below 25 years!

Some of that was due to injuries - the midfield stalwarts Aaron Mooy and Jackson Irvine were missing, as were veteran defenders Milos Degenek, Aziz Behich, and Bailey Wright. Throw in attackers Craig Goodwin, Awer