England exit World Cup LIVE: Gareth Southgate ‘needs time’ to decide future after defeat to France

England are out of the World Cup after Harry Kane missed a late penalty in a heartbreaking defeat to defending champions France.

England were offered a lifeline to cancel out Olivier Giroud’s header when Theo Hernandez barged into Mason Mount in the box but Kane, who had already beaten Hugo Lloris from the spot, blazed his effort over the bar as England’s World Cup ended in heartbreaking disappointment.

Here are how the players rated from the quarter-final.

Like so many times before but, really, in a totally different way. England ultimately go out of an international tournament after a missed penalty from a star, but this wasn’t a shoot-out, and it wasn’t a case of Gareth Southgate’s side getting outclassed in midfield. It wasn’t even a player of Kylian Mbappe’s class scorching them.

Instead, England were arguably the superior side in this 2-1 defeat to the French, who still remain world champions. Southgate’s team had chances that were as good. They had some of the better play.

They just didn’t have much luck, or – if you want to be harsh on the referee, which many will – some of the core decisions.

And that meant that the biggest chance of all – the opportunity to eliminate the highest class of side in a key game – wasn’t taken either. The reassurance will be that England made them look far inferior to that in a fine performance. The reality that matters most is that they again went out at the quarter-final stage.

Last night’s match report from Miguel Delaney in Doha:

Good morning and welcome to the Independent’s World Cup reaction live blog after England bowed out at the last-eight stage.

The Three Lions were beaten by France on Friday night, leaving Didier Deschamps’ side to progress to face Morocco in the semi-finals, with Argentina against Croatia the other fixture in the last four.

We’ve got all the news and latest reaction coming up as England head home from Qatar.