World Cup 2014: Wayne Rooney says 'sorry' to fans on Facebook as England hopes dashed

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As England crashed out of the World Cup during the group stages for the first time since 1958, humiliated players publicly apologised to their heartbroken fans.

A “gutted” Wayne Rooney, who scored in the team’s match against Uruguay on Thursday, posted on Facebook: “Absolutely devastated to be out of the World Cup.

"Going into each game we had great belief in ourselves but unfortunately it hasn't worked out.

"Sorry to all the fans that travelled and at home that we haven't done better... gutted!”

The post was liked by over 100,000 people – but some Facebook users were more sympathetic than others. While some people congratulated Rooney on his first World Cup goal, others criticised England players’ lack of “passion”.

One user said, “I’ll always support you”, while another wrote, “it’s not your fault, you tried your best”.

But less understanding users told the striker it was “time to leave” and that the team’s performance was "shameful".

Following a defeat by Italy on 14 June, England’s World Cup hopes were all but dashed after they failed to stop top Liverpool player Luis Suarez from scoring two goals for his home team Uruguay. And after Costa Rica went on to beat Italy one nil last night it was curtains for the Three Lions.

Goalkeeper Joe Hart also expressed his regret. Asked if the team had progressed under Roy Hodgson’s management, he told The Guardian: "It’s hard to say [because] saying yes sounds like a stupid thing to say but I do. All this is so raw and hard to take but you have to accept it. We are at a World Cup and if we don’t get results then stuff like this happens.

“Basically, we’ve not scored enough goals and we’ve let too many in. I imagine people will say we’re not good enough, that’s what they’ll come up with, but we don’t feel that inside the camp. We’ve got bags of quality, bags of people coming through, great leaders and great experienced players in that dressing room but we’ve just come up short in two games.

"And you can’t come up short in two games at the World Cup. I’ve actually not had a great deal to do in the two matches this tournament. I’m man enough to say that but we are at the World Cup against top-quality strikers who, given half a chance, take it.”

England will now head to Belo Horizonte next Tuesday for their match against Costa Rica with their fate sealed.

Hodgson was given the backing of the Football Association (FA) before England's exit was confirmed.

Chairman Greg Dyke said: “We're supportive of Roy Hodgson, we've asked him to stay as manager.”

When asked by Sky Sports News if he felt Hodgson would remain in his job until the end of his contract at the 2016 European Championships, Dyke added: “That is the view of myself, of everybody else here (in Brazil) and of others in the FA.”

Dyke, asked why England had lost both their opening World Cup games for the first time in history, said: “Everybody thought we played really well in the first game and narrowly lost.

”In the second game it could have gone either way. We were not humiliated or anything like that.

“They were narrow defeats, but it is for the football people, not for me to identify why we did not win.”