losing the opening second round World Cup qualifier to Bermuda 1-0 at the National Stadium on Sunday.

The mass publication La Prensa Grafica , the largest circulation newspaper in San Salvador, carried the headline "Vergonzosa Derrota Ante Bermudas'' on its cover page, which means "Shameful Defeat In Bermuda''.

And on the inside, to lead off the Sports section, an analysis of the result plus four pictures were displayed. The pictures were taken from the Bermuda Broadcasting Company's satellite feed, outlining the step-by-step of Kyle Lightbourne's winning goal.

The inside headline read: "Verguenza y frustracion ante inoperante derrota!'' -- Shame and frustration in unthinkable defeat.

The difference between San Salvador accepting a scoreless draw as the start of a successful series and labelling the national team as a disgrace was Lightbourne's world-class finish.

Replays will show that Lightbourne's rocket header came from a standing jump after Neil Paynter's perseverence and Voorhees Astwood's perfect cross.

When El Salvador returned to the city where they will host Bermuda on November 1, they were met with a barrage of editorials, the most damaging of which said: "The inefficiency that was shown in Bermuda marks a sad chapter for Salvadorean football, where it is evident that players like Miguel Estrada, Fernando Lazo and Oscar Ulloa have passed their time to occupy a place in the squad.'' El Salvador were accused of "showing cowardice against a team who were very ingenuous but showed little development in their football.'' Bermuda's chief asset, said La Prensa Grafica was their commitment and willingness to stand up to their opponents to win.

El Salvador were also blamed for under-estimating Bermuda and thinking ahead to a victory, especially after they beat Nicaragua 10-1 on aggregate in the previous round.

"So, the Salvadoreans were instead conservative and timid after realising Bermuda could indeed play and they had no options to surprise their opponents who for moments gave us ball-handling lessons, which looked ridiculous, and we did not show the recourse to stop them.'' The only players singled out for praise were midfield schemer Mauricio Cienfuegos and Jorge (El Magico) Gonzalez.

Uruguayan coach Anibal Ruiz looks like being pressured into making several changes for the next match against Canada on Sunday. The paper added that the team in Bermuda showed that the output is on a downward curve from the squad that beat the United States in the Estadio Cuscatlan recently.