Sven-Goran Eriksson blamed England's heartbreaking World Cup exit today on an inability to make their extra player pay against ten-man Brazil in Shizuoka.

The South Americans were forced to play a man down for the final 33 minutes after matchwinner Ronaldinho was controversially sent off for a challenge on Danny Mills.

England were incapable of driving home their advantage against their depleted opponents as Brazil reached the semi-finals with a 2-1 win.

Boss Eriksson, while claiming he had no regrets, was left to rue his side's anti-climactic second half display.

He said: "I had hoped we should have done better with 11 against ten. At the end we knocked in balls instead of being patient.

"Maybe we were a little tired. We were chasing, chasing and it ended up that I do not think we had one shot on goal. We had some good efforts but they were always blocked.

"When Brazil had the ball they were good at keeping it.

"We did well in the first half to half-time. They scored in the last minute and the start of the second half.

"We did not use our advantage. I congratulate Brazil. I hope they can reach the final and win it.

"We did make a small mistake at the end of the first half when we let them score. Maybe the same happened at the beginning of the second half."

Goals from Rivaldo and Ronaldinho, the second thanks to a David Seaman blunder, cancelled out Michael Owen's opener.