Liam Brady believes England were unlucky to lose to France in their World Cup quarter-final clash, but added that they "seem to find a way of losing" these big games.
Gareth Southgate's men arrived back in England on Sunday less than 24 hours after their 2-1 defeat in Qatar.
Harry Kane missed a late penalty as England crashed out of the tournament at the hands of Didier Deschamps' side.
READ MORE: England fans turn on ITV commentator Sam Matterface after Harry Kane comment
The Spurs striker blasted the ball over the bar from the spot-kick in the 84th minute after scoring from an earlier penalty in the first half.
Arsenal legend Brady said he felt sorry for Kane after the match and admits England were "much the better team" for parts of the game.
He told RTE Radio 1's Morning Ireland: "They had the team probably to do it this time around. I think they were a little bit unlucky. I thought they played very well against France. There were large sections of that second half when England were much the better team, but they seem to find a way of losing, don't they?
"I felt sorry for Harry Kane. Obviously he's been a great striker for England down through the years and I fancied him to get that penalty. I didn't see that coming at all."
Although it was the game of the competition so far for Brady, the 66-year-old was very critical of Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio, who officiated the match.
He added: "That was the best game of the tournament for me so far. It was played in the right spirit and it was very, very close.
"I thought the referee had a very bad game and he didn't help England too much at all. Leading up to to the first French goal, I thought there was a foul on Saka and then he didn't give what was an obvious penalty when Mason Mount was pushed and had to go to VAR so I thought the referee was very, very incompetent."
After the game, Kane took responsibility for England’s World Cup quarter-final exit, saying: “It is a really tough night to take.
“I am gutted, the team are gutted. We had full belief that we could achieve something special at this World Cup but it came down to small details.
“I thought on the night we had the better chances and better spells in the game. It comes down to execution. As captain, I take it on the chin and responsibility missing the penalty.
“It is hard to take for sure but I can be proud of the group, proud of each other for what we’ve done. This will hurt for a while but we will dust ourselves down to get ready in the future.”
But manager Gareth Southgate told his captain that he should not blame himself for England's exit from the tournament.
“As you’d expect he’s very, very low but he’s got nothing to reproach himself for,” the England boss said. “We’re in the position we are as a team because of his leadership, because of his goals over a long period of time.
“Tonight the result is the result because of 100 minutes of football and lots of things that happened at both ends of the pitch.
“Even if that goes in we’ve still got a lot to do to win the game, so, for us, no recriminations.
“We’ve always stuck together as a team. The group of players have been brilliant. We win and lose together as simple as that.”
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