BRIAN KERR strode into the post match interview, beaten but unbowed, to proclaim his pride in the team.
"I'm proud of each and every one of them, proud of their performance out there, proud of the way they have represented their country since coming to Malaysia.
"When people talk of the way Irish teams play football, they generally mean that we play it hard and direct. But I like to think that we wrecked a few pre conceived notions today.
"Here, we didn't have the equipment to dominate our opponents physically, even if we wanted to. But we still gave them a lot of problems by pure skill alone."
On the 30-minute coach journey to the stadium, the Irish players read some of the hundreds of congratulatory messages which have arrived at the team's headquarters over the last 72 hours and listened to a tape of the Wolfe Tones's biggest hits.
By the time they arrived in the stadium, 90 minutes before kick off, defiance radiated from every face. But somehow they managed to forget the manager's oft-stated sentiments on the folly of giving the ball away needlessly to the op position.
"I couldn't believe the amount of times we lost possession through sloppy passing in the first half," said Kerr. "It ran counter to everything we had said and practised in training and it hurt.
"But it was a different game in the second half after we had tightened up our passing and began to get more people forward. Then we created enough chances to win the game but somehow it wasn't to be.
"We did well after half-time, but I'm disappointed that on the day when thousands of people back home were switching on television sets to watch us for the first time, we didn't play as well as we can."
For Colin Hawkins, the Galway man who must now find a new club after being released by Coventry City at the end of last season, it was a bitter- sweet experience. His miscued header, so nearly the equaliser, close to the end was still on his mind.
"I thought I had caught it right, but as it happened, it stayed out," he said. "It was good getting the profile on television and hopefully it will help me find a new club."
By the time the game ended, almost all the Malaysian spectators were cheering on Ireland, a point which was put to the Argentinian manager, Jose Nestor Pekerman. "This was a case of the crowd favouring the underdog more than a show of disapproval for my team," he said. "Argentina didn't play well, but that was because Ireland were a difficult team to beat."
President Mary Robinson extended her congratulations to the team after their efforts yesterday. "It is a wonderful reflection on the young talent which exists in Ireland today and augurs well for the future of Irish soccer," she said.
