Argentina here to impress

Argentina are not here for a holiday and will be out to justify their ranking as the No.2 team in the world, when they face the Socceroos at the Melbourne Cricket Ground tonight.

Argentina are not here for a holiday and will be out to justify their ranking as the No.2 team in the world, when they face the Socceroos at the Melbourne Cricket Ground tonight.

With this being their last match before their 2010 World Cup qualifiers begin, the Argentine squad acknowledge that the match is vital preparation in the lead up and will be out to very well in tonight-s match.

They also know that despite Australia being almost 50 places below them in the world rankings that it will be no easy match, in front of an estimated 80,000 crowd at the MCG.

Argentina midfielder Javier Zanetti says he knows what to expect, especially as he faced two of Australia-s more senior players in Vince Grella and Mark Bresciano in the Serie A in Italy.

Zanetti, who plays for Italian champions Inter Milan, has faced the pair on numerous occasions and respects their ability and believes that the Australian team will be hard to beat because they play as a team and not as a team of individuals.

He had no problems traveling halfway around the world to play in the match, because he knows how important the match is for their upcoming qualifiers and quite simply it-s always an honour to play for the Argentine national team.

While they haven-t named a starting eleven for the match, Argentina coach Alfio Basile is expected to name an attacking line-up for the match, with Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez and Javier Saviola set to unleash on the Australian defence.

Messi, who many believe is the next Maradona of Argentine football, is one player that many people that are going to the match, will be looking forward to watching. For a player of just 20, his skills are phenomenal and some of his goals for Barcelona and Argentina have been breathtaking.

There are still good tickets available for the match and can be purchased at any ticketmaster outlet or by phonin 136 100 or by logging onto www.ticketmaster.com.au