'It was a surreal experience': Duke reflects on Argentina clash

Mitch Duke believes the Subway Socceroos can gain lots of experience following the 2-0 friendly loss against Argentina in Beijing.

Australia executed a decent game plan after the opening 10 minutes and according to the 32-year-old, the team should feel proud of their efforts while equally disappointed with the result.

The striker admitted the Aussies can take a number of positives away from the clash but just came up short in crucial moments, lamenting his missed opportunity which was saved by Emiliano Martinez on 28 minutes.

“It’s always going to be tough, going down in the first couple of minutes against the World Champs,” Duke told Socceroos.com.au in a post-match interview.

“We weren’t off to the best start but I thought we grew into the first half, we put them under a bit of pressure.

“We created a few half chances, not even half chances I had a good chance I should’ve put away.

“(Emiliano) Martinez pulled off a good save, hit the post and it kind of went in his favour unfortunately.

“But I thought we did well with our press, defensively alright and then punished second half from a second phase of a set piece.

“But they’re the world champs for a reason, we can take a lot of experience, especially a lot of the young boys got a good opportunity against them.

“So we can learn from today and only be better for it moving forward which is what we want.”

Duke believes the sense of genuine disappointment among the group is a sign of how far the team has come in the space of 12 months, particularly after the Subway Socceroos' impressive performance at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.

“I think that says a lot about where we’re at now, we can be disappointed to be losing against the world champions,” he claimed.

“I think that says a lot about where we’ve come from the last World Cup and it’s good to be disappointed in these kinds of games instead of just being like, ‘oh it was the world champs and just brush it off expecting to lose’.

“We wanted a lot, we wanted to win this game so it says a lot like I said with where we’re at and we can only grow from this.”

In front of 68,000 Lionel Messi adoring fans at the Workers' Stadium in Beijing, Duke said the overall experience was one that he will not forget anytime soon.

“It was quite surreal to be honest, walking out almost felt like you were playing in Argentina with everyone wearing the blue and white strip,” he explained.

“Obviously they were reacting so much when Argentina came out, especially towards (Lionel) Messi.

“Every time he touched the ball, he did something – there was a crazy reaction.

“But for an individual, professional you enjoy playing in front of crazy atmospheres like that, it was surreal, it was really enjoyable.

“And I think everyone can learn from experiences like that, but unfortunately we weren’t able to celebrate a bit more.”