England captain Steph Houghton 'heartbroken' after penalty miss ends World Cup dream

England captain Steph Houghton was left "heartbroken" after missing a penalty in the 2-1 World Cup semi-final defeat to the United States on Tuesday.

It was the Lionesses' third successive loss at this stage of a major tournament after an agonising run to the last four in Canada four years ago was matched at the European Championships in 2017.

The defeat was even harder to swallow given Ellen White had a goal chalked off by VAR before Houghton's tame penalty was comfortably saved by Alyssa Naeher late on.

"I'm heartbroken but I'm very proud of the team because we fought so hard in this tournament. It was so close against the best team in the world but we are so disappointed," said Houghton.

"I got told today that I was on the penalties and I was confident because I had been scoring all week but I didn't connect with it properly and the goalkeeper guessed the right way.

Christen Press had put the US ahead before White equalised for England in the 19th minute.

Alex Morgan then matched White in the race for the Golden Boot with the goal that restored the US advantage in the 31st minute.

"I thought we were the better side in terms of how we played football but, ultimately, lapses in concentration cost us," admitted Houghton.

White added: "I'm going to cry. I'm devastated not to get to the final. All I feel is pride for my team mates. USA had an amazing match and we just couldn't match them. I'm proud to be English and I wish them all the best in the final.

"We gave everything. In the first half we were sloppy. We got ourselves back into the game with the goal and it's bitterly disappointing. We've got an unbelievable squad and we had so much belief that we'd get to that final but we just couldn't do that on the day."