‘They bring the best out of us’ - Arnold recalls 1993 before Argentina clash

It is many mornings after the night before and the eve of what Graham Arnold hopes will be their greatest night of all - although Buenos Aires 1993 might take some beating. "I was talking about that in the car on the way here," Australia's head coach says. "It's one of my great memories." Back then, as a striker sporting a magnificent mullet and a moustache, he faced Diego Maradona for a place at the World Cup; 29 years on, the team he leads face Lionel Messi for a place in the quarter-finals for the first time in the country's history.

"When I think back to my playing career, that's one of the highlights of my life: to be able to play the qualifiers against Argentina in Australia and Buenos Aires but I've had a few highlights with Argentina," Arnold says. "We beat them in the 1988 Gold Cup and with the Olympic team only last year. I just think they bring the best out of us and we go into tomorrow with a lot of belief and a lot of energy: it's a big one. The name resonates around the world, as a footballing nation. It's inspiring for Australia to play them."

Perhaps no night resonates quite like 93, for now at least, and Arnold is not the only link between that match and this one. The parallels between Messi and Maradona are irresistible too. "It's crazy how similar they are to each other," Arnold says.

Back then, they met in Sydney at the end of October and in Buenos Aires in mid-November. Arnold played up front for Australia, Gabriel Batistuta in attack for Argentina. Maradona was just behind. He was also playing his first competitive international since the final in 1990, called out of retirement to rescue a team in crisis.

"I clearly remember that we weren't expecting to play Argentina," Arnold says. "They had been beaten 5-1 at home by Colombia. Maradona had retired and put on a lot of weight and in the last five, 10 minutes the fans were singing for him to come back. He lost a lot of weight in six weeks and came back. He set up the goal in the first game. I'm not sure that he had that much influence but you couldn't even get near him to kick him, he was that smart. Such a great footballer, and to be able to say that I played against him is great."

Very soon, as it turned out. That night, the Australian players were called down to the hotel lobby. A fleet of taxis were waiting to take them for a night out they would never forget, courtesy of Maradona. So just how good was it? Arnold laughs. "I haven't got all day," he says. After all, there's another game to prepare, another story to write. Argentina again, the country that bring out the best in them.