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Wayne Rooney has acknowledged the way his England team-mates responded following his red card against Portugal on Saturday and thanked them for their support.

Following his return to fitness the hopes of a nation had been placed on the Manchester United striker's shoulders, but came crashing down when he was sent off for a stamp on defender Ricardo Carvalho.

England did not resign themselves to victory having lost their star centre-forward, however, and battled on for another 60 minutes of football to take the game to penalties.

" I thought the England lads were awesome after I went off and the effort they put in was amazing," Rooney said.

"Truly if there was any justice England would now be preparing for a World Cup semi-final. Sadly, however, that is not to be in 2006.

"I want to thank my team-mates for the unbelievable effort they put into the game and for all the support and encouragement they gave me after it."

Following his dismissal Rooney has been given until Thursday to issue a statement regarding the incident before Fifa decides what disciplinary action to take against him.

Had England beaten Portugal they would have gone through to meet France in the semi-final – Les Bleus are now equal favourites to win the World Cup with Germany at 7/4.

Portugal are currently the outsiders at 6/1 while Italy are at 3/1.

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