Flag-burning day in a shellshocked city

A shellshocked Argentina cried yesterday as the English heaped footballing misery on an already suffering country.

At the final whistle, about a thousand students gathered in the centre of Buenos Aires, shouted anti-English slogans and burnt the St George's Cross. Anger at more than six months of hardship, which has seen Argentina's economy implode and unemployment rocket, was vented after the failure of the much-fancied team at its first important test.

The press turned to mud-slinging in an attempt to explain the result. Cronica, an evening paper, splashed with a full-page photo of the moment the "Pirate" Michael Owen fell to give England's penalty. What a shame, the headline said, that it wasn't a penalty.

The game had been billed by the media as one of the biggest first-round clashes in World Cup history. Taxis flew Argentine flags, TV stations showed past teams' glory moments and radio stations played a rock hit by the Argentine star Rodrigo called "Hand of God".

In the thick of the chanting, Veronica Mareñelli, 19, summed up the students' mood. "It was a dirty game," she said. "The English only won by good luck. It wasn't a penalty and Beckham is nothing more than a pretty face." For good measure she added: "And the Malvinas [Falklands] are ours. The English are all thieving sons of bitches."

Raquel Diaz Dominguez, 28, a sales representative, said: "There is a lot of politics in this game. Though many won't admit it, there is still a strong feeling we are the colony and England is the conqueror."

Buenos Aires was up early to watch the match, which kicked off at 8.30am local time, and thousands of pupils and workers had been given leave to arrive late.

Martin Guillem, 43, who owns a poster shop, said: "The World Cup gives us the chance of momentary relief from the economic problems. It is very sad. It is as though Argentina has gone from a First World to a Third World country in a matter of months."