AFTER sticking to their guns and insisting that Rory Fallon travelled all the way to California just to play in a friendly match, New Zealand declined to put the Plymouth Argyle striker in their starting line-up for Wednesday night's encounter with Mexico.

Fallon was kept on the substitutes' bench until the 55th minute of the All Whites' 2-0 defeat to the Mexicans at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. He did manage to fire the ball into the opposition net in the 75th minute, but his close-range shot was disallowed because he was deemed to be offside.

Mexico won the game with two goals early in the second half. Javier Fernandez and Arsenal's Carlos Vela were their scorers. Both teams used the friendly, which was watched by a capacity crowd of 90,526 spectators at the venue of the 1994 World Cup final, as preparation for this summer's World Cup finals in South Africa.

Argyle had wanted Fallon to remain in England rather than jeopardise his participation in their battle to avoid relegation from the Coca-Cola Championship, but their pleas were not heeded. New Zealand cited the FIFA rulebook, and made sure that the centre- forward made the journey to the west coast of the United States.

The Pilgrims also objected to the initial travel arrangements made by the All Whites, who had to upgrade Fallon's flights to

business class. He is not due to arrive in London until about 4pm today, and is unlikely to be in peak condition to start Argyle's home game against Preston North End tomorrow.

Ricki Herbert, New Zealand's coach, denied that Fallon had been left out of his starting XI because of the pre-match 'tug of war' between club and country. The All Whites' front two against the Mexicans were Middlesbrough's Chris Killen and Shane Smeltz, a former Halifax Town and Mansfield Town striker who now plays his club football in Australia. "I didn't consider resting players due to their busy club schedule. The best interests of the team were delivered tonight," Herbert said in his post-match interview.

When Argyle head coach Paul Mariner was asked yesterday if he was surprised that Fallon, whose famous goal in a play-off against Bahrain last November booked the All Whites' ticket to South Africa, had not featured in New Zealand's starting side, he replied: "Yes."

The Pilgrims' boss added: "I didn't see the squad they picked, to be frank, but he scored the goal that got them there [to South Africa]. I thought he might have started."

Mariner has not totally dismissed the idea of choosing Fallon to start Argyle's match against Darren Ferguson's Preston side tomorrow, but he added: "Having made that trip myself [from Los Angeles to England] several times, I'm guessing he's going to be tired, but you can't rule out anything.

"He's a young lad, he's pretty resilient and he'll be looking after himself," the Pilgrims' boss added. "I'd guess he'll be eager to play. If you're a professional footballer, there's something wrong with you if you're not eager to play."

Fallon has not been the only Argyle player on international duty this week. Central defender Kari Arnason made his comeback for Iceland after an absence of just over two years by winning his 17th cap on Wednesday.

Arnason had a 90-minute run-out as Iceland kept a clean-sheet in a 0-0 draw with Cyprus in a friendly in Larnaca. Iceland were reportedly under pressure in the first hour of the game but finished strongly, hitting the woodwork three times in the last 20 minutes.

Midfielder Alan Judge, who is on loan to Plymouth from Blackburn Rovers, also played for 90 minutes for his country on Wednesday. He finished on the losing side as Armenia completed a European Under-21 Championship qualifying double over the Republic of Ireland by winning 2-1 in Dublin.

Judge and Arnason are expected to return to training at Home Park this morning. Striker Joe Mason and apprentice midfielder Sean Kinsella, who have been attending a training camp hosted by the Republic of Ireland's Under-19 squad at Bisham Abbey in Buckinghamshire, reported for duty at Home Park yesterday.

Mason, who scored his first senior goal for Plymouth in their 4-3 defeat at Sheffield United last Saturday, could be at the centre of another club-versus- country tussle next month. He is expected to be named in the Irish Under-19 squad for friendlies at home to Poland on April 6 and 8, but Argyle are sure to want him in their squad for their Championship fixtures over the Easter weekend.

The Pilgrims will visit Doncaster Rovers on April 3, and will entertain Middlesbrough two days later.