• World Cup 2018

'Hugely disappointed' Beckham won't blame media

England lost out to Russia © PA Photos

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David Beckham spoke of his "huge disappointment" after England were eliminated in the first round of voting for the right to host World Cup 2018 - although he refused to blame the media for the failure.

BBC's Panorama programme, which alleged Fifa vice-president Issa Hayatou and two other officials voting on World Cup bids took bribes in the 1990s, was thought to have dealt a severe blow to England's chances of winning - but Beckham has refrained from taking aim at the media.

"It's obviously disappointing not coming away with the World Cup but I think the whole team can be proud of everything we've put through," Beckham said. "The presentation was exceptional, everyone has told us that it was one of the best - if not the best - presentation, but it just wasn't meant to be.

"No [sense of injustice], I think at the end of the day when you lose something you do feel that and you feel disappointed. I think there's more disappointment than anything right now. We'll process it over the next few days but the biggest thing is the disappointment.

"There's a lot of hard work gone behind the bid and a lot of belief we were going to get the World Cup. Huge disappointment but, like I said, we couldn't have done any more.

"We got very good feelings from almost all the members that we met, and we met every one, so obviously it's disappointing to go out in the first round, it's disappointing to not get the World Cup. But we send all our congratulations to Russia and Qatar.

"I don't know how damaging the [Panorama] allegations were, obviously I can't answer that question. I said during the week that our media has full support behind our bid and that doesn't change."

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