THE flags are coming down. The shirts are coming off. The players are coming home.

And still the tears are falling. Last night, goalkeeper David Seaman was clearly choked as he apologised for his fumbling part in England's downfall. "I want to say sorry to the people I've let down today," he said. "That's just the way it goes."

The wave of optimism, which the country had been riding for 14 joyful days since the defeat of Argentina, broke yesterday morning as Seaman found himself stranded beneath a high Brazilian free kick. The ball floated over his head, out of reach of his flailing hand, and into his net to put Brazil 2-1 ahead in the quarter-final of the World Cup.

On the final whistle, 38-year-old Seaman, England's number one No 1 for 13 years, was close to tears. When David Beckham put a consoling arm around him, he could be seen sobbing on his captain's shoulder, his ponytail flopping forlornly as the tears fell.

Beckham said: "If anyone tries to make a scapegoat out of David then it will be an absolute disgrace because he has been the best goalkeeper in the tournament.

"The goal was not his fault. It was a fluke. It was a cross that ended up being a goal."

An estimated 25 million people - nearly half the nation - watched the 7.30am kick-off, packed into pubs or lounging beneath the duvet at home.

Afterwards, judging by the number of red-eyed boys trudging to schools, where the register had been delayed, Seaman was not the only one who had been crying.

And the roads, so quiet throughout the 90 minutes, suddenly filled with cars, red-and-white flags of St George still defiantly flapping from their aerials, rushing to work their occupants, still proudly wearing their replica England shirts.

But last night, the flags were being removed and the shirts were being put away. The dream had died.

There is no shame in being knocked out by brilliant Brazil. Only a little blame can be attached to the hapless Seaman. There must be recognition that unfancied England have exceeded expectations.

But fans were disappointed how the game had simply fizzled out, the English lions tamely limping away even after Brazil had had a man harshly sent off.

Manager Sven Goran Eriksson said: "I think we did rather well (in the competition) but I hoped we would have done a bit better when it was 11 against ten. We were tired and Brazil were very good at keeping the ball. They were better than us."

At the end of the day, the only winners were the bookies and the publicans. With £15m - the largest amount ever bet on a football match - riding on the result, the bookies were spared a multi-million pound pay-out, and they immediately installed Brazil as 4/5 favourites to win the Cup for a fifth time.

Landlords were left counting the estimated £165m that has been spent in pubs during England's five games.

Fans were slowly coming to terms with England's exit by yesterday lunchtime. But then arch-rivals Germany, a team they had thrashed 5-1 less than a year ago, sneaked into the semi-finals 1-0 when a Scottish referee failed to spot a blatant handball on the line.

The slough of despond became even deeper