England captain Steven Gerrard has confessed that he considered international retirement after this summer's World Cup debacle.
In the injury absence of Rio Ferdinand, the Liverpool star had the unwelcome honour of skippering Fabio Capello's team in South Africa as they limped through the group stages before being humbled by Germany.
England are now preparing for Wednesday night's friendly against Hungary at Wembley, when players are expected to be booed by fans as a result of their abject displays at the World Cup.
Paul Robinson and Wes Brown, who did not go to this summer's finals, will not be involved in the match after calling time on their international careers and Gerrard has confessed that the thought of quitting has also featured in his thoughts.
The 30-year-old told a press conference shown on Sky Sports News on Tuesday that he was fully committed to his country, but he has also said: "I'm not going to lie to you.
Dark days
"Since we were knocked out of the World Cup, it has been really difficult being an England player.
"So retirement does cross your mind at times.
"But very quickly you switch back to thinking of staying and hanging in and, hopefully, turning things round and having a successful tournament."
Meanwhile, Gerrard has admitted the England clock has been wound right back to the dark days which followed the failure to reach Euro 2008 under former boss Steve McClaren.
"This is low as it gets," he said. "The position we are in at the moment is quite similar to when we didn't qualify for the European Championship under Steve McClaren.
Lower expectations
"We are not up with the best. We went out in the last 16, everyone can do the maths.
"There blatantly is a difference between us and Spain for example, because they have won the World Cup. They have proved they are a lot better than us.
"It is other people, not us, who say how good we are.
"Maybe lowering expectations would help. But will that happen? I don't think so.
"We have massive support. We have got 60,000 coming (against Hungary), which is going to be the biggest crowd of the night.
"Are the media going to lower their expectations?
"But this should be the way it is with England. We've got good players. We have to deal with it better."
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