Argentina will learn from harsh lesson

Argentina displayed an abundance of skill but fell to the old fashioned virtues of strength and stamina in the 3-2 defeat by England in Geneva

On Saturday, two late headed goals by Michael Owen after England coach Sven Goran Eriksson had sent on lanky striker Peter Crouch snatched a victory that left Argentina stunned.

It was England's fourth win over Argentina in 10 meetings in the 39 years since they beat them 1-0 in the World Cup quarter-final at Wembley.

In that time, Argentina have won twice, including a 4-3 penalty shoot-out victory at the 1998 World Cup in France.

"The English at the end launched a lot of high balls into the area and that's how they found the equalising goal," Argentina's captain Juan Pablo Sorin said.

"It could be that they used the physical part better, but I don't think it was because we committed mistakes."

Eriksson sent on target-man Crouch as a late substitute, throwing more men forward and the ploy paid off with Argentina's central defenders, now minus Roberto Ayala who had had a fine game, struggling to cope.

Despite the defeat Argentina coach Jose Pekerman said there were positives to take from the performance.

"I think the general balance is positive despite the defeat," he said. "We played a good match against an excellent rival and we learnt a lesson: we mustn't get disorganised at the end of a match.

"This is useful, since we cannot make this mistake, for example, at a World Cup.

"We started very well, we were superior to our rivals with the ball, we took the midfield, we had middle distance range with Roman (Riquelme) and Maxi (Rodriguez).

"If we can keep up this dynamic, I think the team will improve. Argentina will be one of the big movers."

Striker Hernan Crespo, who scored the game's opening goal, said the loss to their arch-rivals could even work in Argentina's favour.

"We've amassed real venom for the World Cup finals," the Chelsea player said. "We didn't deserve to lose this match. We are so proud of our performance."