ARNIE FEELS QATAR HEAT AS TROOPS EXHAUSTED

JUST two days after his greatest coaching triumph, Graham Arnold faces perhaps his hardest decisions.

A condensed World Cup – with three games in 10 days in the energysapping Doha heat – has left Arnold with an utterly exhausted starting XI and facing the prospect of making changes to his preferred line-up to face powerhouse Argentina on the basis of fatigue rather than tactics.

Craig Goodwin, perhaps Australia’s best player through the first two matches, was subbed out at halftime of the historic 1-0 win over Tunisia as he simply had nothing left.

Centre-backs Kye Rowles (ankle) and Harry Souttar (ACL) had only recently returned from injuries when they arrived in Qatar, and both have played big minutes for Arnold while developing into one of the World Cup’s most reliable defensive pairing.

So, too, left-back Aziz Behich – one of three outfield players, alongside Souttar and midfielder Aaron Mooy who played every minute of Australia’s matches during the group stages.

The likes of Goodwin, ironman Mathew Leckie and Jackson Irvine aren’t far behind in terms of minutes played, leaving the bulk of Arnold’s preferred starting XI facing a monumental task to lift against two-time World Cup champions Argentina.

So low was the energy of Leckie that the hero of the night looked exhausted at his man-of-the-match media conference after full time.

“After the game definitely I was exhausted, I think most of the boys were, everyone threw everything at that game to get a result,” Leckie said on Thursday. “It wasn’t too different to the Tunisia game. We have already been to Aspetar (medical centre) and done our recovery … today, tomorrow it’s going to be obviously a major point of just getting recovery in because it’s all about getting the body ready to put in another shift.”

For the past few months the Aussies have espoused the virtues of their secret weapon, the world-class facilities at their $1.3bn training centre at the Aspire Academy – with the adjacent Aspetar medical centre a sports scientist’s dream.

“We’re very lucky to have that, it has been a massive advantage, especially the intensity that we play,” Leckie said.

But an ice bath, wading pool and deep-tissue massage gun can’t put fuel back in the tank, as many of the Australian players need right now.

The relentless schedule has rankled defender Milos Degenek, among the fittest in the squad.

“It’s something that FIFA need to consider, that we’re not robots, that we are humans and that we do need to recover and we can’t just play day after day,” Degenek said.