Socceroos coach Graham Arnold believes international matches should not be played on artificial turf.

But he says his charges need to learn from their rollercoaster experience on the difficult surface ahead of potentially facing poor-quality pitches during World Cup qualifying.

The Socceroos let a two-goal lead slip in a 2-2 draw with world No.12 Mexico on a challenging artificial turf surface at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Sunday.

Midfielder Jackson Irvine was stretchered off after a rolled ankle but Arnold said he hadn’t suffered a serious injury.

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Arnold stressed he didn’t want to used the “difficult turf” as an excuse but when asked whether international fixtures should be played on the surface, he said: “No.

“It’s completely different to what the players are used to.

“They’re used to playing on grass, long grass and softer. They will struggle to probably walk for five days after this, I think, after playing on the artificial.”

For its first goal, Mexico earned a penalty when debutant Cam Burgess fouled Uriel Antuna after Maty Ryan opted not to come off his line to clear the danger from a long ball.

In the 84th minute, Souttar ducked under what would normally be a regulation header, seemingly leaving it for his goalkeeper, and Cesar Huerta nipped in between the centre back and Ryan to score.

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“You could see the bounce of the ball was completely different,” Arnold said.

“I have to say, honestly, I’ve already looked at the goals we conceded. If it was on normal grass, both of those balls would have gone through to Maty Ryan or out.

“The Mexicans know how to play on it more than we do. But again, the test that we get is so important and (the) boys linking together.

“On this type of surface if you kick the ball and backspin it, normally with backspin on grass, it skips through. With this grass and rubber, it bounces up and it holds up.

“Maty was probably in a position where he thought ‘oh that’ll skip through to me’ and it bounced pretty much upright.”

Arnold insisted his charges needed to learn to manage less-than-ideal conditions.

“They’ve had that experience, they’ve had that time … playing on this type of surface but it was something new for us,” he said.

“But I don’t want to use that as an excuse because at the end of the day we can play on some terrible pitches in the Middle East areas sometimes and East Asia and it’s the same for both teams and we’ve just got to do better.”

-AAP