Australia Shocks The World With 2-0 Victory Against Argentina!

Australian Coach Graham Arnold promised his underdog Olyroos would ‘shock the world’ in their first Olympics campaign since Beijing 2008.

And in their first Olympics game in 4,726 days, the Australians stunned heavyweights Argentina 2-0 in a massive statement of intent – and avenged defeats to the South Americans in both the 2004 and 2008 Games.

It led goalscorer Lachlan Wales to declare: “Tonight we shocked the world. Hopefully we can keep shocking the world as we keep on moving through the tournament!”

The Western United winger opened the scoring in the 14th minute after burying a cross at the back post, before Argentina controversially went down to 10 men on the brink of half time.

Argentine defender Francisco Ortega received his marching orders after two yellow cards in the space of a minute, the second for an innocuous tug on Australia’s Riley McGree in the box.

In a match that descended into a physical and fiery battle in the second stanza, the Olyroos held on gamely - and missed several more chances - before a late goal to substitute Marco Tilio sealed the famous victory.

Tilio had not been involved in any of the qualification rounds for the Olyroos and was not set for a Tokyo appearance until an injury to Ramy Najjarine.

But in his debut for the green and gold side, Tilio needed less than a minute off the bench to make his mark.

The Melbourne City starlet – who starred in their recent A-League grand final victory – sent Mitchell Duke into space down the wing with his first touch of the ball, then got on the end of the cross to launch a blistering strike from the edge of the box into the net. The pass to Duke was his first touch of the game, while his successful shot was just his second touch.

Like Tilio, Wales had not been initially included in the Olyroos squad for Tokyo, but the 23-year-old was promoted from the train-on side after Olympic squad sizes were expanded last week.

“It really is a dream come true to win this match,” he said. “Argentina are one of the biggest nations in world football and it is an unreal feeling.”

The result puts Australia atop of an incredibly difficult Group C, which was widely labelled the ‘group of death’ ahead of the tournament, but one that coach Graham Arnold claimed was in fact a ‘group of dreams’ for the Olyroos.

Argentina – the current South American champions at both the Under-23 and senior level; Spain, the current U-23 European champions; and Egypt, the current U-23 African champions.

After Egypt claimed a shock goalless draw with Spain, Australia have a huge opportunity to progress to the knockout stages.