Australia defeated Argentina in a thrilling encounter in Chillan to seal third spot in Group C at the FIFA U-17 World Cup Chile 2015 and in the process, eliminate La Albiceleste. Nicholas Panetta's two goals either side of half time were enough to send the South Americans home, with Tomas Conechny's penalty not enough.
The first clear-cut chance fell to Argentina, with the ball breaking to Matias Roskopf in the Australian penalty area. The forward poked at goal, but his effort went just over the crossbar and bounced off the top of the net,
Australia opened the scoring with a well-worked set piece. A long free kick hit into the Argentina penalty aera by Jackson Bandiera was knocked down by Josh Hope into the path of Panetta. The FFA Centre of Excellence forward made no mistake and slammed a right-footed effort into the roof of the net.
After the interval, the Joeys were indebted to Duro Dragicevic who pulled off a wonderful save from substitute Federico Vietto, and it would prove to be an important stop shortly after when Australia doubled their advantage.
A set piece was cleared to outside the box and Panetta hit a wonderful volley which flew past Franco Petroli in the Argentina goal. The No17 celebrated with vigour.
Argentina pulled one back to set up a tense finale. Conechny's ball across the box saw the onrushing Lucas Pizzatti tripped by Charlie Devereux. Conechny stepped up to take the spot kick himself and sent Dragicevic the wrong way, coolly slotting into the bottom left-hand corner.
The South Americans threw caution to the wind in the closing stages, pushing forward and leaving spaces at the back for Australia to counter, meaning the final minutes were an enthralling spectacle.
Miguel Lemme's side could not find that vital second goal though, and finish bottom of Group C and head home across the border with no points to show for their efforts in Chile. Tony Vidmar and the Joeys will await other results to see if they have made it into the knockout stages, with Mexico securing top spot ahead of Germany with their 2-1 win in Talca.