By Paul Coffey

A diehard Scot puts traditional rivalry with the Auld Enemy on hold as he watches England beat Argentina.

No matter what else goes on in the World Cup, this was the only match that seemed to matter... well, to the English anyway.

As much as I would have wished to watch the game in a pub, I had to work and shared the experience with about 100 others in an office in central Scotland.

Fortunately, the nature of our work dictates that there are many televisions in the office.

About two-thirds of the people viewing in the office were English and the rest were split between Scots, Welsh, Irish, Aussies, Kiwis and South Africans.

Indeed, pretty much any country that would often delight in seeing England falter at any sporting occasion was represented.

As a Scot, I was faced with a dilemma. Who do I support ? Do I follow the advice of a Scottish National Party MSP and cheer on the English in their quest for glory?

Anyone attempting to organise a lunchtime meeting was given short shrift by me and my colleagues.

As the game approached, we were aware of the hype building in the coverage and an e-mail was sent out requesting that those watching the game did not disturb those who chose to continue working.

There was general incredulity along the lines of: "You mean there are people who won't be watching it?"

Torn by tradition

As a Scot, I was faced with a dilemma. Who do I support? Do I follow the advice of a Scottish National Party MSP and cheer on the English in their quest for glory?

Or do I revert to the perceived stereotype and support whoever plays England?

It was an interesting question. What I was particularly interested in was the first goal and I decided to look around all the other viewers and see who would end up cheering for whom.

In the end, I plumped for England, as I perceived them to be the underdogs.

"England should beware the penalty shoot-outs"

It may seem unfair to Argentina, but I assumed that they would spend most of the game trying to wind up David Beckham and that they would either try to get him sent off or target his injured foot.

My sympathies lay with the English squad. In 90 minutes time they would either be heroes or zeroes.

In a stunning display of Commonwealth togetherness, everyone cheered when Beckham slotted home the penalty.

Up until then, everybody was laughing throughout at the commentary from Messrs Motson and Brooking on the BBC.

Tense affair

The feeling seemed to be that we all wanted England to win this game, though one colleague suggested that by supporting England we could guarantee seeing them go out on penalties later in the competition!

The second half promised to be a tense affair, no phones rang, nobody did any work, all eyes were on the television, could they do it?

As Argentina laid siege to the English goal towards the end of the game, there were numerous shouts of "just kick it out" in all sorts of accents.

At the final whistle, there was a spontaneous round of applause for England's achievement.

Congratulations to England. And no, it doesn't stick in my throat to say that.