Thousands of England fans were off work yesterday with football fever.

I joined 200 of them at the Euro Bar, in George Street, Oxford, to watch England's nerve-racking 1-0 victory over Argentina.

There were as many collared shirts and ties as England shirts with workers on extended lunch breaks or dashing in to catch part of the match.

There were no patriotic painted faces, only a handful of England flags and no booming England songs during the pre-match build-up to relax the crowd who waited nervously sipping drinks.

At the kick-off at 12.30pm you could have heard a pin drop. The first few minutes were watched with bulging eyes and breathless silence as fans waited to see how well the teams were playing. The jerky start, punctuated with free kicks, added to the tension which swelled further as Michael Owen advanced on goal 22 minutes into the game. The cheering, clapping and shouting was steadily increasing and a split second of elation turned to disappointment as Owen's shot rebounded off the post. As fans began to resign themselves to a goalless first half, England increased the pressure.

When Argentinian defender Mauricio Pochettino fouled Owen, giving England a penalty, stress levels and hopes were raised. David Beckham struck the ball straight down the middle, past stunned Argentinian goalkeeper Pablo Cavallero, and the fans leapt into the air in jubilation.

The ecstatic response was repeated seconds later during the play-back as England's World Cup hopes and the possibility of finally avenging Argentina gained strength. The introduction of Teddy Sheringham as a substitute in the second half was welcomed, but the fear of Argentina equalising created an increasingly frantic atmosphere.

Fans counted the minutes and the seconds and finally broke into football chants willing England to hold on.

As the final whistle blew, the relief and ecstasy erupted with wild clapping, shouting and smiles as wide as Beckham's when he scored the winning goal.