Argentine fans stunned at World Cup elimination

June 12, 2002

BUENOS AIRES, June 12 (AFP) -- Heads dropped and silence reigned in the streets of the Argentine capital on Wednesday after the highly favoured national side slid out of the World Cup.

Argentina, World Cup winners in 1978 and 1986, came to the tournament in Japan and South Korea as joint favourites with France. But like the French, they were unable to get past the opening round following a 1-1 draw with Sweden in Miyagi, Japan. The one point left Sweden top of Group F, nicknamed the 'Group of Death', while England, who beat Argentina last week, pushed the South Americans through the exit door by taking the second qualifying spot.

Hundreds of thousands of Argentine fans had risen from their beds in the early hours to watch the match on television, hoping that the team could give a boost to a country whose economy is in a parlous state. Instead, the result only deepened the gloom.

"It's yet another sad blow for the Argentine people who have suffered so much with the general situation which we are going through," said 55-year-old housewife Silvia Barruti as she stared disconsolately at the floor of a downtown cafe.

Trader Sergio Barriche, 29, defiantly wore his blue and white shirt and a bandana in the national colours but had harsh words for the team of flops, who mainly play in the wealthy leagues of Italy and Spain.

"People who earn so much money as those players should make sure they produce the goods from the first match onwards and not just in the final few minutes when it's too late," referring to a late flurry of chances against the Swedes.

Argentina had high hopes after romping through qualifying and then beating Nigeria 1-0 in their opening match. But that dawn, after a defeat to England and the Swedish draw, proved as false as the one which arrived here in the early morning proved gloomy.