ENGLAND coach Sven-Goran Eriksson admitted it was his side's failure to make their extra man count that cost them a place in the World Cup semi-final.

"We could not keep the ball, they went on when they won the ball and they were better at keeping it than us," he said.

"We could maybe have done better today and it is a great pity."

But even in the immediate aftermath Eriksson was able to look forward and predict a bright future for his young side.

"We have learned about many things, we have a lot of young players in the squad," he said. "We will be better and better.

"We have been very good and we are disappointed the way it went today.

"It went 1-1 in the last minute of the first half and then they scored two minutes into the second half. But Brazil are very good at keeping the ball."