Capello made to wait over future

The Italian on Monday repeated his desire to stay in the job despite England's worst-ever defeat at the finals when they were knocked out 4-1 by Germany in the last 16 on Sunday.

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Asked if he wanted to stay on as England manager, the 64-year-old Capello told reporters: "Absolutely. We're going to wait two more weeks to reflect on everything."

Having spoken to Club England chairman Dave Richards on Monday morning, Capello was told he would have to be patient for a decision and said this was "the intelligent solution."

Capello added that he had turned down offers with top European clubs to stay with England.

Less than a month ago, the FA confirmed he would remain as coach until after Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine and were delighted he had committed his future to them after transforming the side following their failure to qualify for Euro 2008.

England won nine of their 10 World Cup qualifiers to top the group and played very well in most of them. He has now been in charge of 28 matches, 19 of which have been won and five lost.

But their performances versus the United States, Algeria and Slovenia in the group matches in South Africa were poor and Sunday's display against Germany was an embarrassment for a team supposedly among the favourites to win the tournament.

TIRED PLAYERS

Capello said he was sorry for England's fans and, in part, blamed his team's failure on fatigue following a long and intense Premier League season without a winter break.

"All of the English players arrived really tired at this competition. I spoke to all our coaches and they all told me that in their physical and mental situation, they were not like the players that we know," he told reporters.

Capello conceded his team was not only outplayed by Germany at Bloemfontein but were outpaced. "They played in seven games before and in this tournament and we were just not so fast as I remember. Not so quick," he said.

He put forward two main reasons for England's humbling - Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda's failure to award a goal when Frank Lampard's shot crossed the line at 2-1 and appalling defending that led to two more Germany goals in the second half.

"For that I am very, very angry," said Capello.

The Italian, whose first appearance, and statement, in the 'big top' marquee at their training camp was to announce that his captain Rio Ferdinand had suffered a serious knee injury, was this time emphatic that he would not resign his post.

He was repeatedly pressed by reporters to justify his position and his salary, which British media have reported as six million pounds ($9.04 million) a year.

But the man who has guided AC Milan, Real Madrid, Roma and Juventus to a total of nine league titles remained impassive.

INTELLIGENT SO