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As England's footballers returned home, the loudest cheer of all was for David Seaman despite the nightmare goalkeeping error that handed Brazil their winner and left him in tears.

Thousands of diehard England fans, wrapped in flags, cheered home their footballing heroes at Heathrow Airport Saturday despite their team's 2-1 quarter-final defeat by the Brazilians.

The faithful gathered outside the airport fencing, virtually stopping the players' coaches from moving, reaching up towards the team inside, cheering for captain David Beckham, but most of all for goalkeeper David Seaman.

Seaman broke down following the final whistle and apologised for their loss after he failed to stop the Brazilian's second goal.

But after initially fingering him as a scapegoat for the end of England's World Cup dream, the English press rallied to the defense of the Arsenal keeper.

"The devil himself must have carried Ronaldinho's free-kick beyond the England goalkeeper for Brazil's winner," said The Independent on Sunday.

Seaman was among the last of the players to leave the airport and the car containing him, his wife Debbie and two children was mobbed as it approached the exit.

Fans swarmed towards the car, applauding, screaming and cheering until police waded in to pull some fans back to allow the car to leave. Seaman smiled and waved at the scores of supporters who were chanting his name.

It was in stark contrast to the forlorn figure who after the final whistle on Friday had to be consoled by Beckham - the villain of England's last World Cup campaign after his sending off against Argentina.

According to a lip-reader hired by The Mirror, Beckham told Seaman it was not his fault, but a lucky fluke from the Brazilian striker. Ronaldinho has since claimed that he had intentionally attempted the unlikely shot after being told that Seaman was often out of position at free-kicks.

The jury is still out, but the Sunday papers all agreed that England collectively failed as a team to produce the spark necessary to trouble the South American side.

"In the end they were knocked out by a superior team, not because David Seaman made an embarrassing mistake," said Andy Gray in The Sunday Mirror.

"Don't make Seaman a scapegoat - all the England players are to blame for blowing any chance they had of reaching the semi-finals," he added.

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