England goalkeeper James has a reputation for saving spot-kicks - and saved one against Leicester last season to keep Manchester City in the Premiership.

But luck didn't go his way in the Stadium of Light as Portugal's players - and especially goalkeeper Ricardo for the winning kick - showed outstanding technique to place the ball in the corner of the net.

"I'm gutted I didn't save one," said James. "After what happened at the end of the season with Manchester City I fancied myself to save one, but it wasn't to be.

"I thought we could win it and the fans did everything they could to help us. They were tremendous, the noise they made with singing more than matched the Portuguese whistling - and there were more of them.

"It was a real choker to lose it but fair play to Portugal. Their keeper made a great save from Darius' penalty - you can't dig anyone out when they hit the target and there's no blame attached whatsoever.

"In the end you just have to accept it. As much as it's a bit of a lottery I suppose it's the fairest way to go out of the tournament if you can't separate the teams over 120 minutes."

That's not to say James believes England deserved to lose. Although Portugal played the better football, England showed outstanding chracter and determination to take it all the way to the wire.

He said: "We did so much defending in the second half trying to defend a 1-0 lead but as soon as the ball went up field it seemed to come back again.

"But what was really frustrating was was the goal that was disallowed in the 90th minute - if it had been 2-1 we'd have gone through and I have no idea why it didn't count.

"To come back from a goal down in extra time showed our character and we battled all the way. We're going home now but we haven' t played badly and we have to remember that. Now we have to put it out of our minds and start preparing for the World Cup."