Oh son! Balotelli's dad lives in Wolverhampton
Mario Balotelli failed to save England from World Cup shame – as the Italian's Black Country family ties emerged.
England's fate was sealed in Brazil after Balotelli's Italy lost to surprise packet Costa Rica 1-0 yesterday in Recife.
And last night it was revealed that the Italian's father bizarrely lives in Wolverhampton.
The result means England have suffered their worst performance at a World Cup in 56 years – but boss Roy Hodgson has been backed to carry on in charge after FA chairman insisted he has "done a good job".
Balotelli will be heading home too if Italy lose to Uruguay, while rank outsiders Costa Rica, who England face in a dead rubber on Tuesday, have won both games to lead Group D, which they were 50-1 shots to top at the start of the tournament.
Controversial striker Balotelli, who said in a tweet he wanted a kiss from the Queen if he helped England's cause, missed a one-on-one chance to put Italy ahead but was otherwise anonymous.
His biological dad is Thomas Barwuah, a Ghanaian inmigrant who lived in Italy with wife Rose. They had Mario in Sicily, only to give him up for adoption at the age of three in 1993 to the Balotellis, a family of Italian Jews, for unexplained health reasons.
It is unclear why Barwuah came to England, or Wolverhampton, where he lives in a modest semi-detached house in a suburban street in Wednesfield.
Mum Rose, who is now estranged from Thomas and lives in Manchester, said: "I am very proud of him and all the family are very proud of him.
"I watched the England game the other night and we were praying for his success last night.
"We keep in touch with his adoptive mother – in one week we will hear from each other. He (Balotelli) is a humble guy and very respectful; he's a good lad and we love him very much. If he's interested in coming back to the Premier League I'd love to see him."
Mr Barwuah was unavailable for comment.
No Three Lions team has lost their first two games at a World Cup.
But Dyke confirmed former Albion head coach Hodgson will keep his job to lead England into the 2016 European Championships in France.
"He came to do a four-year cycle leading up to the Europeans and we want him to stay and continue that," said Dyke. "That's the view of myself, everybody here and everybody at the FA. There are some positives. We got some young players blooded into tournament football."
