Australia went down 1-0 against the fomrer gold medallists but squandered chances to level the score and even take the lead.

“I’m extremely proud of the performance of my team and frustrated that we lost,” Arnold said after the game.

“When you have four or five gilt edged chances against that type of opposition you need to score them and unfortunately that didn’t happen.”

Arnold said it was difficult to see anyone taking the title from the defending champion.

“It’s going to take some team to stop them. Their movement off the ball is unbelievable, their technique is incredible and that’s why I’m so proud of my boys.

"We made it hard to play their one-twos around the box. I thought we did a very good job on Messi today.”

Skipper Mark Milligan echoed his coach: "I am very proud of my team-mates and I will tell them how well we played.

"We still created chances and we will bring that spirit into the next game."

Argetina were happy with the win even if they failed to trouble the scorekeepers much during the 90 minutes.

“We have three goals from two games, that might not sound enough but you can score 10 goals but still not qualify for the next round,” said Argentina coach Sergio Batista. “So I’m happy with three goals and qualifying for the next round.”

“I am very confident in my team. We knew our goal and we are marching towards our goal. We still need a few improvements to keep mistakes to a minimum.”