Fabio Capello admitted he was considering his position as England coach after his side crashed out of the World Cup following a 4-1 defeat by Germany.

The Italian is under contract with the English Football Association until 2012 but his reputation has taken a battering as a result of England's poor performances in South Africa, triggering speculation he will either quit or be pushed out.

Capello, who has been in charge of the Three Lions since January 2008, said he would make a decision after talking to the chairman of the FA.

"I have time to decide, I have to speak with the chairman," Capello said.

"We have to wait until we come back to London. I want to see if he still has confidence in me."

But the good news for Capello is that he seems to have the support of his players.

After the match, captain Stephen Gerrard says Capello should stay because "he's a fantastic manager", while Frank Lampard said he's a "top manager" who he's "enjoyed working with."

At one point in his post-match press conference Capello ruled out resigning but he later appeared to concede it was a possibility.

"I have to think about everything," he said.

Under Capello's original contract, the FA would have been able to end their relationship with him after the tournament without having to pay him substantial compensation.

The Italian also had an option to walk away but the break clause was removed just before the World Cup against a background of interest from Inter Milan in securing the coach's services.

If the FA do decide to dispense with Capello's services it could cost them millions of pounds given that the Italian earns between four and five million pounds a year.

Capello admitted Germany's pace and movement had given his side major problems on Sunday, but he claimed the pattern of the match had been skewed by the referee's failure to award what was a perfectly good goal by Lampard, which would have levelled the match at 2-2 just before half-time.

"The most important thing was the goal that we scored to make it 2-2," Capello insisted.

"If it had been a goal the rest of the game would probably have been different.

"It meant Germany were able to play on the counter-attack in the second half. They did it very well but it would have been different.

"Even from the bench I saw the ball go over the line. I can't understand the mistake."

Despite stressing the importance of the goal, Capello acknowledged that his side had not lived up to expectations, with the group stage win over Slovenia their only convincing performance in four matches in South Africa.

"We did not play well for the first 20 minutes today," he said.

"We suffered a lot with the speed of Germany. But we got a goal back and at that moment I thought Germany suffered a lot.

"The psychology, the mind of the players is very important. After being 2-0 down, if you come back to 2-2 ... sometimes it is what you think that is most important.

"Between 2-1 and 3-1 were better than Germany. This is not my idea. I saw the game. After they scored to make it 3-1, the gap was too big. It was too much for us."

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