More from the England boss Gareth Southgate.

"At the moment we all feel the pain of defeat," he said.

"I don't think realistically we expected to be here. But once you're here and played as well as we did, you want to take those opportunities in life. The dressing room is a difficult place at the moment.

"I'm remarkably proud of the group of players - the reaction of the supporters compared to two years ago shows the country are proud of the way we played."

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Erm well there's every chance from what England manager Gareth Southgate has been saying.

"It was a wonderful opportunity and you can't guarantee they'll come again," he said

"But equally we want to be a team who hit quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. We've proved to ourselves and our country that's possible.

"A lot of teams who go on to win trophies lose in quarter-finals or semi-finals first.

Just disregard what I said earlier about post Italia 90 perhaps.

England had the second youngest squad at the World Cup and exceeded expectations to reach the last four for only the third time in their history - after 1966 and 1990.

Not bad considering the way in which they exited Euro 2016 and the 2014 World Cup....now that was just depressing wasn't it?

But can they go even better.......?

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As for the England manager Gareth Southgate - he says his players "came of age" during the World Cup.

"There'll be a new benchmark and level of expectation," he said.

"To become a winning team there are hurdles you have to overcame - and we've surpassed many of them. Many of our players have come of age on the international stage."

Touching from England and Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford.

Talking of politics - this was the scene inside the Croatian government today, with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic sporting his Croatia shirt at work.

One plus point from last night depending on your political convictions...?

On a slightly lighter note and as a mid morning pick-me-up - here's all the best action and funnies from day 23 of the World Cup.

Yes I know England were beaten in the semi-final against Croatia but this is still well worth a watch...

And just when you thought a set-piece was going to put England in the final......

And curl......please.

Oh Harry. Square it. Square it. Square it. At least get it out of your feet!

Sorry momentarily slipped back into game mode then!

Dave you've beaten me to it. I can't help thinking it was a big opportunity missed for England as well.

And here's evidence.

Polly: Lots of tears here last night (my five year old loves the football) but life goes on... Happy to believe that anything is possible. The England team are great.

Tom: Gareth Southgate should be knighted for his efforts to bring the country together during a period of deep division. Can’t fault the lads on the pitch as they’ve given everything over the last 3 and a half weeks.Thanks for the memories and euphoria lads!

Dave: England very unlucky I thought. Should've been home and dry by half time. You still have Belgium on Saturday, and I would like to see you win to shut up all the other bitter home nations, including mine.

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Some compelling reading below from our chief sports writer Tom Fordyce on England's World Cup semi-final defeat to Croatia.

The disappointment comes in waves.

Mario Mandzukic's shot ripples the net and the first one hits. You come up for air. Seconds later, looking back up at the screen and those around you and understanding that it is real. That's wave two. Then comes the realisation of what it means: time slipping, hope going, odds escalating.

Read more here.

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Russell Crowe had a point didn't he? The population of Croatia is just over 4 million people.

So basically less than Yorkshire and the Humber or indeed the West Midlands.

And almost half of London.

When you look up synonyms and antonyms in future perhaps just tap Stephen Fry into Google.

David: We need to build on this now so give Gareth Southgate a 10 year contract for starters. Qatar in 4 years will be hard due toward the heat, but use European Championships to keep momentum going.

Anon: Let's keep it real. England are no longer a national embarrassment but please, heroes, great team - I don't think so. In normal play, including extra time, they played 6 matches, won 3 (2 against mediocre opposition), drew 1 and lost 2.Not being anti England, just realistic.

Arun: Couldn't have got an easier route to the World Cup final even if England could have handpicked the draw. All this talk about the team having over achieved - just shows how low the bar & expectations are.

Some more celebrity fan reaction last night from the the broccoli munching Will. i. am.

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Big thumbs-up from Steven Gerrard who also had a few choice words for Raheem Sterling critics.

"These people that are criticising Raheeem Sterling are the same people that are jumping up and down in pubs, in houses, watching big screens, if he’d come back as a winner of the World Cup.

"So I don’t understand why you would criticise one of our own. When you see the effort, determination and application of every one of that squad and people say they don’t care about playing for England it’s embarrassing.

"Those players have worked wonders for this country of the last few weeks and we should all be proud of them."

Image source, Getty Images

Steven Gerrard of course was well known for his leadership qualities as a player, particularly at Liverpool, so what does he make of the current England boss Gareth Southgate.

"I think he’s been our leader," he told BBC Radio 5 live.

"Everyone questioned whether he was the right man for the job and was he capable of leading our nation, especially in a big tournament. I think he’s been fantastic. He’s done everything perfectly and I hope he’s rewarded for it because nobody gave him a chance at the beginning.

"Only people that knew him as a person or player were saying 'let’s give him a chance' and I think he’s proved everyone wrong. He deserves most of the credit for the whole World Cup campaign."