England's World Cup hopes hang by a thread after 2-1 loss to Uruguay
ENGLAND will be hoping for other teams to falter to see them progress out of the World Cup group stages after losing 2-1 to Uruguay last night.
Hopes were raised of the Three Lions getting their first points in Brazil after Wayne Rooney equalised on 75 minutes after Luis Suarez's first half goal.
But the Liverpool striker broke British hearts when he pounced on a back header from his Premier League team-mate Steven Gerrard to score on 84 minutes.
The result in Sao Paulo means England need Italy to beat Costa Rica today to keep their slim hopes of reaching the knockout states alive - if they draw the Three Lions are knocked out.
URUGUAY V ENGLAND MATCH REPORT
Roy Hodgson's side then need to comfortably beat Costa Rica and hope the Azzurri beat Uruguay in the final games of Group D.
England defender Phil Jagielka described their second loss in Brazil as "gutting".
It is gutting
Speaking to ITV after the match, the 31-year-old said: "It is gutting. We played so well in spells but things didn't go our way. Steve Gerrard flicked the ball on, Suarez was onside and you hope he mis-hits one but he finds the target and he wins the game.
"It is a similar story to Italy, we played pretty well but not good enough. We are very disappointed as defenders, that is the last thing you want to see from a punt down the field. Everyone is absolutely devastated in there.
"We had them on the back foot after we scored. There is a small chance still. We have to go out there against Costa Rica and put in a good performance and come away with something."
The defeat saw celebrities and football fans flocking to Twitter to vent their frustration at the blow to England's World Cup hopes.
Journalist and broadcaster Piers Morgan tweeted: "Suarez is a sensational striker, but our defending against him has been woeful all night. #ENGvURU."
TV presenter Phillip Schofield tweeted: "Well I'm having a bloody drink!!!! Damn damn damn and damn again".
Lord Alan Sugar asked his Twitter followers: "Will Suarez be welcomed back by the English fans to the UK at the start of the PL season."
While cheeky Italian striker Mario Balotelli tweeted: "If we beat Costa Rica i want a kiss,obviously on the cheek, from the UK Queen."
Suarez is a sensational striker, but our defending against him has been woeful all night. #ENGvURU
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) June 19, 2014
Will Suarez be welcomed back by the English fans to the UK at the start of the PL season.
— Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) June 19, 2014
Hours before kick off hooligans attacked ten England fans with petrol bombs near to the Arena Corinthians where England took on Uruguay.
The group of Britons were taken to hospital in Sao Paulo after thugs hurled Molotov cocktails, fireworks, bottles and ripped up English flags at them.
HOW URUGUAY V ENGLAND HAPPENED: MINUTE BY MINUTE COMMENTARY
The England fans were attacked near an official World Cup fan event by a group of 15 thugs dressed in black who were arrested by police.
Officers saw the violence and chased the suspects as they tried to escape on bus.
The group of attackers were seized with knives, mortars and brass knuckles. The incident happened 14 miles from where England played Uruguay.
The suspects were taken by police to a local station where they were questioned.
The news came as England fans across the country are geared up for the Three Lions World Cup clash with Uruguay.
Up to 24million viewers, a record high for the UK this year, were expected to tune into the crunch match.
The pivotal game saw the return of Liverpool and Uruguay star Suarez, named last season's Premier League Player of the Year, who has been declared fit after knee surgery.
Nervous fans flooded to social networking site Twitter ahead of the 8pm kick off, with #EnglandvsUruguay trending on the site yesterday afternoon.
The game, shown on ITV, comes after the BBC received a backlash for new pundit Phil Neville's commentary.
The former England, Manchester United and Everton defender was blasted on Twitter for being "boring" and having a "monotone" voice.
The Beeb received 445 complaints about Neville's performance during the game on Saturday which had a peak audience of 15.6million.
That match had an 11pm kick off whereas last night's game was broadcast during prime time.
The commentary team for last night was Clive Tyldsley and Andy Townsend, with ex-Uruguay midfielder and current Sunderland manager Gus Poyet providing analysis from ITV's studio in Rio de Janeiro.
Ian Wright, originally scheduled to be a pundit for the match, has travelled home after his family were robbed at knifepoint at their London home.
ITV will be hoping their online viewing service will not be hit by the same problems that affected the World Cup 2014 opening game.
Football fans complained that ITV Player went down during the first game between Brazil and Croatia last Thursday.
The broadcaster said on Twitter that the service suffered an outage due to an "unprecedented numbers of users during the game".
Around 3.5million were expected to pack into 48,000 pubs across the UK to watch the game, according to the the British Beer and Pub Association.
In the capital up to 10,000 fans watched on giant screens at Saracens rugby club’s Allianz Park in north London.
Elsewhere in London, 2,500 people saw the game at Indigo at The O2 and hundreds on John Lewis’s Oxford Street roof garden.
Around 10,000 England fans who made the long trip to Brazil cheered on the Three Lions at the 62,601 capacity Arena Corinthians.
It was hoped the squad, captained by Steven Gerrard, would have been boosted by English-style weather in Sao Paulo, which was forecast to be an autumnal 14C with rain.
Hundreds of fans have jetted to Brazil without tickets and were looking to ticket touts to get a seat to watch the match live.
Supporters on Wednesday gathered outside FIFA’s ticket collection office in Sao Paulo to get a ticket.
Touts were offering seats at an eye-watering price of up to £650.