England captain David Beckham paid tribute to his team-mates as he reflected on the World Cup adventure which came to an end today in Shizuoka.

Brazil's 2-1 victory means that the skipper's dreams of lifting the trophy are over, but Beckham believes that there are many positives to reflect on

"We are all proud of ourselves and as a captain I am proud of this team because it has come a long way in such a short space of time.

"Of course, there is disappointment in every one of us, but we are a young team and we will come back from this.

"One of the plus points is that we have reached the quarter-final of a World Cup in which people were saying we would go out in the first round, that we wouldn't even get through the group. But we did get through it and went on from there.

After England had gone behind to a free-kick from Ronaldinho that floated ino the far corner, the same player's sending off should have given the Three Lions a boost.

"We didn't take advantage of his sending off like we should have done, but that's the way things go," said Beckham, who also emphasised his support for David Seaman.

"The goal was not his fault," said the skipper. "It was a fluke. It was a cross that ended up being a goal, so it will be a disgrace if he is made the scapegoat because he has had a world class tournament."