BRUSSELS, July 3 (Reuters) - Italy headed home from Euro 2000 on Monday still smarting from their dramatic 2-1 defeat by France in the final.

Dino Zoff's squad boarded a flight from Brussels airport bound first for Milan and then Rome.

'Finishing as runner-up is undoubtably a great achievement but it's not winning the cup that hurts,' Zoff told reporters before boarding.

'We were there, we had it and we were ready to take it home with us.'

Zoff described his side's performances at the tournament as 'honourable' and confirmed he would stay on as coach for Italy's World Cup qualifying campaign.

He said he was generally unconcerned by those who criticised his tactics as negative.

'Maybe they exaggerated a bit when they criticised us against the Netherlands when we had to play for most of the match with 10 men,' he said.

'Certainly,there are more things I could have done but there's no point regretting that now.'

Italy were just 70 seconds from victory in Sunday's final in Rotterdam when they led France 1-0 heading into the fourth minute of injury time.

But Sylvain Wiltord brought the French back from the brink with an equaliser and David Trezeguet won the match for them with a 103rd minute 'golden goal.'

Italy's defeat was their second in a major final in the past six years following their loss on penalties to Brazil at the 1994 World Cup.