A 2-0 loss to Argentina was full of bold performances from Socceroos young guns

A crop of Socceroos young guns took it up to world champs Argentina and one rising star stood out.

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold says his young players showed promising signs against Argentina. Picture: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

Lionel Messi may have dazzled but Socceroos coach Graham Arnold walked away from his team’s 2-0 loss to Argentina just as delighted with the bold showing of Jordan Bos, who now “knows he belongs” on the big stage.

Arnold walked away from the loss to the World Cup winners in Beijing on Thursday night full of optimism having played a younger than normal side that included A-League rookie of the year Bos in the starting line-up.

It was just the second cap for Bos, who starred with Melbourne City and earnt a move to Belgian Pro League club Westerlo for an Australian record transfer fee.

Jordan Bos showed he belonged on the international stage. Picture: Di Yin/Getty Images

Bos was busy from the outset and showed his ability to outmuscle senior opponents and his dash and dare helped provide plenty of opportunities for the Socceroos to score.

It was the sort of boldness that comes with youth and for Arnold, the way of the future.

“That’s how he needs to play,” he said.

“I’ve got to play players to their strengths and Jordy’s strength is going forward and making sure that we’re protecting him defensively and obviously he’ll improve out of sight with that.

“But this game, the kid will walk away knowing he belongs and he’ll have that belief that he belongs on the big stage now.

“I just think that he‘s got such a bright future, not just individually but for the Socceroos.”

Argentina's Lionel Messi dazzled the Socceroos. Picture: Wang Zhao / AFP

Lionel Messi scored the fastest goal of his international career, finding the back of the net after just 79 seconds in Beijing, putting Australia on the back foot early.

A second-half goal to Pezzella put the game to bed for Argentina but it came after several hot chances for the Socceroos that was enough to put a smile on Arnold’s face.

“When you‘re playing the world champions like that it’s obviously a good learning curve for a lot of people,” Arnold said.

“Obviously, we started the game poorly. I thought it was a foul, I don‘t know if it was or not.

“It‘s a learning experience for the young players that have probably never played in this type of environment before and I thought they handled the occasion.

“After the first 10 minutes, I thought we did very well.

“Overall, the most pleasing thing is there‘s some kids coming and we’ve just got to expose them and give them the opportunity to be exposed against this type of opposition.”

Riley McGree was among the best Aussie performers with a crop of fellow youngsters in Aiden O’Neill, Keanu Baccus and Nathaniel Atkinson, but 19-year-old Alessandro Circati didn’t get his debut.

The Workers' Stadium in Beijing was packed for the clash. Picture: Wang Zhao / AFP

The Socceroos will return to action in the September window, then head to Wembley for a massive clash with England.

Arnold was beaming just at the thought of more big games for his emerging squad.

That is just the type of test Arnold wants for his young charges.

“The most important thing is we play our way,” he said.

“We don‘t sit back, we go forward, we move forward. Everything we do is about growing as a team.

“We‘ve got some youngsters coming through and the only way for them to improve is to put them on the big stage.

“If they‘re just playing local football and we’re playing against weak opposition, they’re not gonna learn.

“Tonight, I think quite a number of them will go home and think, ‘Wow, we belong’ and a number of the kids are going overseas now.

“Their careers are only gonna go up from now.”