England lost 6-5 on penalties after extra time after the game had finished 2-2, with Owen netting the opener.

"It's a big disappointment to lose like this but it always seems to happen. It's a bitter blow," said Owen.

Owen lamented: "These tournaments only come round every two years so we can't win every time.

"I should have scored with a header just before Sol's effort went in, and I couldn't see anything wrong with it."

A controversial aspect of the penalty shoo-out was that the penalty spot seemed to be giving way every time a player planted his standing foot on it. 

Owen explained: "It's a sand-based pitch, and the way people take penalties they put a lot of pressure on their standing foot and it just seemed to give way."

Eriksson praised his side for their effort during the whole competition despite losing at the quarter-final stage yet again.

"The spirit has been fantastic, I can't complain in any way about the players, they've been great all the way through."

Hosts Portugal now go through to face either Holland or Sweden in the semi-finals.