ENGLAND had to suffer a double punishment last night when they were not only knocked out of the European Championship finals in a penalty shoot-out, but also left wondering if they had been good enough to win the tournament in the first place.

Sol Campbell appeared to be thwarting Portugal single-handed for most of an astonishingly defiant two hours, but there was nothing that the giant centre half could do when last night’s quarter-final in the Stadium of Light was reduced to spot kicks.

England might have thought that they deserved a change of luck after departing three previous tournaments — the 1990 and 1998 World Cups and Euro 96 — on penalties, but it was in keeping with a mesmerising match when the momentum stayed with Portugal, who had pinned their opponents on the back foot for most of the preceding 120 minutes.

David Beckham missed his team’s first spot kick, the captain’s third failure in a row, and, as with his spectacular miss against Turkey in Istanbul, he appeared to have lost his footing at the critical moment. Sven-Göran Eriksson later revealed that he had twice complained to Uefa, the tournament organisers, about the state of the penalty spots. “Twice before games here I complained personally about the spot,” the England head coach said. “We trained and the grass fell away. We took it up a second time (on the eve of the quarter-final) and they said they would put in new grass.”

England were also upset by the decision to deny Campbell a goal in the last minute of normal time — “it would be good to have two referees on the pitch,” Eriksson said — but it was hard to begrudge Portugal their triumph, even if the method of execution was, as Eriksson said, part skill and part lottery.

Eriksson talked afterwards as if the game had gone to plan, but, whereas England had looked controlled in defence against France in their opening match, they spent long periods last night hacking the ball to safety. Their failure to keep Portugal at bay after Michael Owen’s third-minute strike did not suggest that the team was on the brink of winning England’s first leading trophy since the World Cup in 1966.

The loss of Wayne Rooney, the hero of their campaign, after just 27 minutes was a huge blow, bigger than anyone could have imagined, and Eriksson revealed that the Everton forward would be out for at least a month with a broken metatarsal in his foot. “But I couldn’t say we would have won if he was on the pitch,” the Swede added. “I won’t use that excuse.”

Eriksson’s substitutions — particularly the withdrawal of Paul Scholes and Steven Gerrard, two of his key players — will be scrutinised over the next few days, but England had been stretched even with their best XI on the field. Eriksson tried to claim that his side had given as good as they got, but for periods they were outplayed by the hosts, who will meet Holland or Sweden in the semi-final.

“They were better than us at scoring penalties,” Eriksson countered. “As normal, they had possession more than their opponents because technically they are a very good side, but they didn’t create much in the box. They had long shots and I think 1-1 was a fair result after normal time. It is not just about possession, it is about creating chances and I think we did that very well. It is unfortunate to lose on penalties.

“I have thought for a long time that we could reach the semi-final or final because everything looked good. We had few injuries and the fitness levels were better than the last World Cup. I am sorry for the fans and squad, but now we have to look forward to qualifying for the next World Cup.”

Eriksson promised to continue as head coach and the Football Association has already declared that it will stand by him. “Yes, I am going to stay,” he said. “After all the fuss, I am staying. It is a World Cup in two years (in Germany) and I want to go beyond the quarter-finals in big tournaments.”

Some will question whether he is the man to lead England, but, under him, the team have shown a steady progress that came to an unexpectedly juddering halt last night, even if they did manage to take the game to penalties. Beckham’s miss was compounded by Darius Vassell’s failure to score and the knife was plunged deeper into English hearts when the winning strike came from Ricardo, the Portugal goalkeeper.

“I talked to the squad in the dressing-room afterwards,” Eriksson said. “Beckham might blame himself, but football is like this. He slipped with his foot once again, but life has to go on. It is a pity. I feel sad for the players and the fans, who behaved extremely well. I really thought we had a chance to reach the final, but now we go home.”

The team will return to England this afternoon for another summer of soul-searching. Most of the squad will still be around for the next World Cup, but the older ones may be wondering if they have a significant triumph in them. If losing on penalties was cruel for England, it would have been crueller still had Portugal been vanquished.

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