The Hockeyroos' Champions Trophy hopes have taken a massive hit, going down 2-1 to Argentina in London.
The loss sinks Australia to third on the ladder with a win, loss and draw after three matches, with only the top-two of the six-team tournament qualifying for the final.
It means they'll now almost certainly need to at least draw, if not beat a world No.1 Netherlands side in their next match on Thursday night if they want to stand any chance of reaching the final.
After a number of penalty corners still resulted in a scoreless first half on Tuesday night, Argentina opened up a 2-0 lead before Australia threatened to make a late comeback to narrow the margin to one with four minutes remaining courtesy of a Kathryn Slattery field goal.
However, they were unable to score an equaliser, placing their competition hopes in a precarious position.
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"It was obviously disappointing to not get the result, but I thought the way that we played and conducted ourselves was encouraging," Australian coach Adam Commens said.
"If were going to win in Rio we need to make the most of the chances we get not only with field chances but with penalty corners."
