England's World Cup squad have begun their journey back home after suffering elimination at the quarter-final stage of the tournament.
Gareth Southgate's team ran reigning champions France close in Al Khor, but fell just short. Harry Kane brought England level from the penalty spot after Aurelien Tchouameni's opener for Les Bleus, but Olivier Giroud restored France's lead and Kane was unable to repeat the trick late on as he put a second penalty over the bar.
The players are due to board a flight back to Birmingham this morning, less than 24 hours after their elimination. Harry Maguire, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden were the first stars seen leaving the team hotel after playing their part in a dramatic evening against an impressive French side. Foden dragged his own suitcase and Maguire got onto a mini bus
Grealish, Maguire and Foden left the team hotel early along with Trent Alexander-Arnold, who departed in a Qatar 2022 vehicle. It is believed some of the team have elected to join up with family for a holiday or team training trips abroad before the rest of the squad depart for the UK
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As more England players emerged, teenage star Jude Bellingham stopped to sign autographs. James Maddison hugged Callum Wilson and Kyle Walker before they boarded the bus, while manager Gareth Southgate had an arm round Kieran Trippier as he left the hotel before he got on the bus.
Trippier was England's final scorer in the 2018 World Cup, putting away a free-kick against Croatia to hand Southgate's team an early semi-final lead, only for Ivan Perisic and Mario Mandzukic to turn things around. The Newcastle United defender was involved in all of England's group games, starting twice, but didn't feature against France.
The England team are leaving Doha International airport on a chartered Titan Airways Airbus A321 en route to Birmingham after their 2-1 defeat to France. As the dust settles on the painful defeat, goalscorer Harry Kane and a number of his team-mates have reacted to the result.
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Centre-back Maguire, who clipped the outside of Hugo Lloris' post with a header, has spoken out about the refereeing performance in England's loss. "Big decisions went against us, a lot of decisions went against us, should I say," he said, after England felt there was a foul on Bukayo Saka in the build-up to France's opener.
"We fought, we kept going, kept pushing, we created chance after chance and they’ve been clinical in two moments and that’s why they’re the world champions, and I’ll probably say that’s why they’re favourites for the tournament.
"I think the referee’s decision-making throughout the game was really poor. We always stand here and as players we get criticised – so it would be nice to see if he comes out and says whether he’s had a good game or not."
The future of manager Southgate has been brought into question after the exit, just as it was during a poor run of Nations League form in the lead-up to the tournament. The 52-year-old insisted he would not rush into a decision, though, telling ITV: " I think after every tournament, we’ve sat and reviewed and that needs a little bit of time so everyone makes the right decisions.”
"It's pointless me going into that," Southgate said when asked about referee Wilton Sampaio. "I'd rather talk about our players.
"Congratulations to France, they know they've been in a hell of a game and we've given a top team a game and I don't think we could've done any more."
After France held out to set up a semi-final meeting with Morocco, midfielder Adrien Rabiot claimed justice was done. The Juventus star didn't believe England's second penalty should have been awarded, after Mason Mount went to ground under the challenge of Theo Hernandez.
"First of all, I'm not sure that it's really a foul," Rabiot said. "We've seen hundreds of actions like that that aren't given.
"I thought the refereeing was a bit borderline at times tonight, but we won't linger on that. Of course, when he missed, we were happy, it was justice because there was no penalty.
"But sometimes you also need that bit of luck, of success. We had it tonight, everything came together. We are really proud to reach the semi-final in this way."
France will now have a break until Wednesday, when they face Morocco at the same Al Bayt Stadium where they beat England. Walid Regragui's Atlas Lions booked their place in the last four with a 1-0 victory over Portugal, with Youssef En-Nesyri heading home the winner.
