Crest-fallen Capello calls for urgent meeting to discuss England future

It was the biggest defeat to Germany and the worst result England have suffered at a World Cup.

Capello's position is bound to come under intense scrutiny only five weeks after having a clause removed from his 6m-a-year deal that would allow either party to terminate after the World Cup.

"I want to speak with the chairman and then decide my future," said Capello. "I need to know whether the FA have confidence in me or not."

When asked if he would resign, he replied: "Absolutely not."

The early indications are Capello will remain in his job.

Senior sources within the Club England camp who will determine whether the Italian stays or not have indicated that their stance on Capello – that he is the right man to take the Three Lions forward – has not shifted as a result of one single, albeit controversial result.

The men who will sit in judgment on Capello are Richards, new Club England managing director Adrian Bevington and FA director of football Sir Trevor Brooking, all of whom are in South Africa, plus acting FA chief executive Alex Horne, who is not.

They must assess whether the raging injustice at the disallowed 'goal' by Frank Lampard that would have pulled England level after they had fallen 2-0 behind is merely papering over the cracks of a disappointing campaign.

After claiming his side were capable of reaching the World Cup final, Capello has seen his men record just one win from four games and arguably reach their potential only once – against Slovenia in Port Elizabeth last Wednesday.

"When you lose the manager gets criticised," said Capello. "We didn't play too badly in the first game against USA, just made a big mistake. We played a bad game against Algeria but we played well against Slovenia.

"Today, if the referee had whistled for the 'goal' it would have been different. It was too big a mistake.

"We scored. It is incredible. In this period of technology, in this period where we can have five referees, we cannot decide if that was a goal or not.

"We have to speak about this 'goal'. We have to speak about a mistake from the linesman – and the referee because I could see it had gone in from the touchline. I saw the ball bounce and go over the line. I do not understand this mistake."

Capello was intent on allowing his fury to obscure the fact a supposedly superior England side had found themselves deservedly two down and chasing the game in the first place.

"That one goal would have made the game completely different," argued Capello, pictured right. "We scored two goals and at that moment, I saw Germany suffer a lot.

"They played on the counter-attack after that, and played very well. They scored the third and fourth on the counter-attack and we didn't play after that."

Capello was at a loss to explain why his players had performed so far below expectations, other than cite their general tiredness after a long season.

"Look, we probably arrived a little bit tired at the end of the season.

"But after the game that they played against Slovenia, we suffered from Germany's speed.

"But I say again, I am sure that a big mistake from the referee stopped us from going forward."

England captain Steven Gerrard expects there to be changes in the England squad for the Euro 2012 campaign but he has urged Capello to remain in his post.

The chances of the so called 'Golden Generation' to win a major tournament ended in Bloemfontein yesterday. The likes of Gerrard, John Terry, Lampard and Emile Heskey are already over 30 while David James will be 40 in August.

Gerrard said: "Everyone in the dressing room is hurting, the coaching staff and the players.

"We'll go away in the summer and analyse things personally and as a team.

"We'll have to see what the future holds. We've got an experienced team and players who are getting on.

"I'm sure there will be changes by the time the next tournament comes around.

"But they're questions you'll have to ask the manager."

As for Capello's future, Gerrard said: "I'm sure Fabio will stay and he'll address his own situation very soon.

"I don't know when. Personally I'd like him to stay as I think he's a fantastic manager but that's my opinion."

Gerrard refused to lay the blame for England's failure on the match officials not allowing a 38th-minute equaliser when Lampard's shot had clearly crossed the goal-line.

He said: "If you look at the game as a whole we've been beaten by the better team.

"We had good parts of the game where we passed the ball well and got into good areas.

"At 2-1 if Frank's 'goal' would have counted it could have been a turning point in the game, but we can't use that as an excuse.

"They've scored four goals and we only got one, which tells its own story.

"We made too many mistakes as a team. Germany were more organised than us and were more clinical.

"They got in five or six times and scored four goals so you've got to give them credit.

"Germany were the better team over the 90 minutes, but even at 2-0 and 2-1 I had confidence we could win the game. The third goal was the killer."