The Manchester United forward was given his matching orders for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho in the 62nd minute with the game evenly poised at 0-0.

He made the matter worse by shoving Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portuguese winger waded in to protest with the referee. Some people have blamed Ronaldo for inflaming the situation, although he has denied this.

"People will say that the referee gave the red card because I spoke with him. This is not true. I spoke with him to say it was a foul, but I only said it was a foul, not a red card," said Rooney's United colleague.

Television pictures appeared to show him winking towards his bench after the incident.

David Beckham, who along with Rooney and Ray Wilkins are the only England players ever to be sent off in a World Cup, said Rooney should not be blamed.

"I haven't even seen the incident on TV. But I do know that ten seconds before there were two players on his back. If the referee had seen that he couldn't have sent him off," he said.

Beckham was sent off against Argentina in a second-round clash in 1998 by Danish referee Kim Milton Neilsen and was roundly criticised by England's unforgiving media.

He hopes it doesn't happen to Rooney, England's finest talent, who experienced the worst night of his international career.

"Will he be vilified like me? Who knows. But I hope not. Wayne is the future of the team. He'll pick himself," he said of the 20-year-old who has had so much expectations placed on his shoulders.

Gary Neville, who is Rooney captain at United, said the striker was heartbroken but would get over it.

"He is a colleague at club and international level and we hope the sending-off won't be as bad as it looks," he said.

"I know Wayne is a strong character and whatever comes of it, and he is heartbroken, there will be people around him who will have been through it all before."

Rooney has been a marked man since returning from injury in the group stages to boost what had been England's flagging campaign, and had been targeted in the three matches he had played.

While his temperament was again called into question with his push on Ronaldo, midfielder Steven Gerrard said he should not be made the scapegoat for England's failure to make the semi-finals.

"Wayne had been fantastic. He has done so much for the team," said the Liverpool captain.

"I haven't seen the incident, but I'll give him a big hug because I love him. He'll get not blame from us. There were three men around him before the sending-off."

His dismissal came just as England were taking control of the match as they attempted to reach their first World Cup semi-final since 1990, and barely 10 minutes after a tearful Beckham went off injured.

Down to 10 men, England battled on but lost on penalties with Ronaldo twisting the knife by converting the match-winning spot kick.