The players, who appeared tired and weary, arrived back at Heathrow Airport at 6.20am on a Virgin flight which had been specially chartered by the Football Association. They touched down at Heathrow Airport at about 0620 BST. As they arrived home after the 11-hour flight the players, many of whom were dressed in official England team suits, could barely smile as they walked across the tarmac to waiting cars. David Beckham led the team off the plane, with Jamie Carragher and Michael Carrick just behind him. Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard barely smiled. Players' wives, girlfriends and children were also among the group to emerge from the aircraft. Others including Christine Bleakley, 31, the girlfriend of England midfielder Frank Lampard, Joe Cole’s wife 26-year-old wife Carly Zucker and Toni Poole, 28, wife of former England captain John Terry left South Africa on a separate flight. The players are not expected to have an official reception. Before the flight the team arrived at O R Tambo Airport in Johannesburg on a coach bearing the slogan Playing With Pride and Glory, looking downhearted and sombre. There were no fans present and the players did not speak to waiting journalists.The team were knocked out by their old footballing foe Germany after slumping to a 4 – 1 defeat in Bloemfontein.It was England’s heaviest ever defeat in the World Cup finals and capped a miserable tournament in which they only scored three goals and won only once.It is not only the England team that will be arriving home today. Thousands of disgruntled fans will return in the coming days following a shorter than expected South African trip. At the airport in Bloemfontein, fans were rearranging flights and some were trying to sell off their tickets for the quarter and semi-finals.
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