Argentina find Roa to quarters

But the disappointment was tempered by pride at the way coach Glenn Hoddle’s young lions out-competed, and often out-classed, the highly-rated Argentinians, despite playing most of the second half and extra-time with ten men following David Beckham’s sending-off. “It was a bitter, bitter pill to take again. We are distraught,” Hoddle said.But the England coach had nothing but praise for his players.

“Everything went against us. It is a night to be proud – I don’t know if itwas destiny or not. Even with ten men we defended like lions,” he said.Argentina’s Daniel Passarella said his side had been given the toughest possible 2nd-round test. “To send the English packing is wonderful. Everyone here was cheering for us,” he said.

Argentina started the match as favourites and the form book looked set to be respected when Gabriel Batistuta gave them the lead with a sixth minute penalty, his fifth goal of France ’98.

But England fought back with an Alan Shearer penalty and a stunning solo strike by Michael Owen and they could have killed off the match before Javier Zanetti equalised for Argentina on the stroke of half-time. The match took a dramatic twist two minutes into the second half when Argentinian skipper Diego Simeone clattered into Beckham from behind and left him sprawling face down on the grass.

As Simeone walked back past him, Beckham lifted his foot to kick him right in front of the Danish referee Kim Nielson, who had no option but to pull out his red card. AlanShearer’s 52nd-minute free-kick produced a fine save from Carlos Roa and Sol Campbell even had the ball in the back of the net ten minutes before time.

The Tottenham defender had reached the touchline in a frenzy of celebrations before he realised that his backpost header has been ruled out because of Shearer’s foul on Roa.

Gabriel Batistuta was instrumental in winning the penalty that put him along with Italy’s Christian Vieri as top scorer.

The Fiorentina striker’s flick put Simeone in behind the England defence. The Argentinian skipper touched the ball past the outcoming David Seaman and fell over the England keeper.

The decision by Danish refree Kim Neilson threatened to spark fighting between unsegregated English and Argentinian fans behind Seaman’s goal.But things settled down when Alan Shearer put England level three minutes later from an even more controversial penalty.

Brustling through on the left Owen waited until he was closed down by Roberta Ayala before taking a headlong dive. TVreplays showed the defender made no contact.

With the Argentinians stunned by Owen’s strike, England poured forward in a bid to seize control of the match. Paul Scholes then squandered a wonderful chance to put England two goals clear. It was a miss that ultimately cost England everything.