In his final column with TheFA.com, Britain's world champion boxer looks back on England's exit, his friend Wayne's sending off and Zidane's moment of madness.

Hi everyone.

I was in Tenerife on holiday and watched the Portugal game in one of the bars. It nearly brought me to tears, it was really disappointing. There was so much expectation, we had such a good chance.

We never seemed to get going at all during the tournament, never hit top gear. I kept expecting us to catch fire, but we never did.

I was confident before the Portugal game. The draw had been kind to us and you could not really complain about getting Portugal in the quarter finals. I would expect us to beat them nine times out of ten, and with Deco out it gave us a great advantage. We had a great chance.

I thought Wayne was unlucky, I thought he might have got away with it. I think it should have been a foul to England before that, the two defenders were whacking him.

He was devastated. I sent him a text straight after the game to say commiserations, don't worry, chin up and well done to the boys for battling so hard. He sent one back to say thanks, he appreciated it.

When Wayne was sent off England seemed to play better. That seems to be the case when a team goes down to ten men, they gave that little bit extra. They played like warriors for almost an hour.

There seems to be a lack of confidence when we take penalties. You could almost see it in their eyes.

It was a real shame.

I don't think there were any outstanding teams. Italy are always very capable, but they would not have been high on my list of teams to win before the World Cup. They are steady, but not much else.

I watched the final, but I must admit, I lost interest once England were knocked out.

Italy's win was overshadowed by the Zidane incident. I don't know the ins and outs of it, but it's not in his character. You would not say he's a dirty player.

His penalty was absolute genius, typical of the man. I can't believe he's retiring, I'd certainly have him at City. A boxer knows when his best is behind him, but if Zidane feels that then I'm shocked.

I'm looking forward to the new season with City.

Dietmar Hamann is a good signing, he's still a decent player. We have made a few signings. It's good to see Paul Dickov back. When you see him play, you can't help but be a Paul Dickov fan.

We had so much promise last season and were looking at Europe until we got knocked out of The Cup, it all went downhill from there. Maybe these extra players will give us that little extra we need to get us into the top six.

There is always so much expectation at City, but the team never seems to match it. They are a bit like England.

For more on Ricky Hatton, including information on future fights, click here for his official website.