Upson can't explain England exit

Matthew Upson has admitted he is at a loss to explain why England performed so badly at the World Cup.

The West Ham defender did score last night but his first-half header proved inadequate to threaten Germany, who ran out comfortable 4-1 winners in Bloemfontein.

While Joachim Low's men can now look forward to a quarter-final against Argentina in Cape Town - and a rematch of the 1990 final - England are left to rake over the coals of yet another dismal tournament.

Fabio Capello refused to contemplate resignation last night and instead said he intended to speak with Club England chairman Sir David Richards to determine whether the FA retained confidence in the 64-year-old ahead of the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, which starts in September.

For that, some answers for England's woeful showing need to be found. But Upson admits he has none.

"I would love to explain," said Upson.

"It is very difficult to analyse all these games and give a reason why X, Y and Z happened.

"I don't know. I can't explain the performances.

"But I don't think they have all been as bad as what we are talking about."

The defeat raised so many issues, as well as continuing a barren record against bigger countries in tournament football since 2000, when they beat Germany during an otherwise disastrous European Championships.

"I don't have the answer to why we never do it against the big countries," continued Upson.

"You have 11 players giving it 100%. At the end of the day we weren't good enough to get the result. It is as simple as that.

"Where England go from here is a good question. It is something the manager will be thinking a lot.

"He will be analysing everything we have done in the tournament and I am sure he will learn a lot for the future."