Former Stoke city defender Matthew Upson has said that he will now retire from international football after having missed the squad for the Euro 2012, according to Arsenal News. The former West Ham United defender was overlooked by manager Roy Hodgson after the injury to Chelsea defender Gary Cahill.
The former Liverpool manager also overlooked the Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand in place of the inexperienced Liverpool defender Martin Kelly. After the announcement of the replacement of Gary Cahill with Martin Kelly, Matthew Upson has said that his international career is all but over. The 33-year-old has played for England at international level in 21 matches so far including the matches at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
He was one of the regular players under former manager Fabio Capello. A major portion of the 21 matches – 14 international caps – have come under Fabio Capello. Due to the fact that Roy Hodgson is expected to use a number of young players ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Matthew Upson does not see himself getting into the squad alongside Wayne Rooney anytime soon. As a result, he now wishes to focus his football on his club game. Matthew Upson has distanced himself from rumours about leaving the club in the summer.
“I was not expecting anything (when hearing Cahill was injured). I would say that part of my career is sufficiently behind me and I can now look forward to whatever football has left for me at club level. It is a great achievement of mine to have played for England and I am really happy about what I did. I have my dates for pre-season training at Stoke and I am away on holiday at the moment. I have a contract at Stoke for one more season though and I am assuming that is where I will be this coming season,” said Upson.