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Tears were shed and the dreams of England fans sitting in a Dunedin pub were dashed after two last-minute goals booted them from the Fifa World Cup.
An arm’s length away, a big group of Argentina football fans sitting next to the heartbroken England punters in the Law Courts Hotel were completely beside themselves with excitement.
Just as it appeared England was set for victory in yesterday’s semifinal, Argentina scored two goals late in the game, cementing a 2-1 win over England and a place in Monday’s final against Spain.
Argentina fan Jack Day said he was not worried even for a moment, despite England leading 1-0 late in the game.
‘‘It was just a matter of time before Argentina scored — then they scored and they got another one; it was easy as.’’
His review of the game was that ‘‘England didn’t have any backbone in the second half’’.
His reasoning for supporting Argentina was similar to many other Argentina fans sitting in the Law Courts Hotel yesterday: ‘‘Anyone but England’’.
As the loss started to set in, tears were shed by England fans in the pub.
For friends Jacob Woodrow and Joe Mackie, it was a series of high and lows for each of them.
Mr Woodrow was supporting Argentina, and his English friend Mr Mackie was supporting his home team.
When the game was sitting at 1-0, Mr Mackie was feeling “great,” and Mr Woodrow was feeling “shit”.
Attitudes swapped when Argentina scored their first goal.
By the end of the game, Mr Mackie could be seen looking rather forlorn while sitting at his table pouring another beer.