James Milner has urged his England teammates to take the positives away from Euro 2012 after they were eliminated by Italy on Sunday.
After a goalless 120 minutes, the Three Lions at one stage led the penalty shootout before Ashley Young and Ashley Cole missed their spot-kicks to hand the Azzurri the victory.
Despite the exit, the Manchester City midfielder wants England to take their tournament experience into the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign.
"We have got to take the positives from the tournament and the experience. There are a lot of lads who have come into the squad and this is their first tournament. It is good experience and hopefully they can take that into the next tournament," said Milner.
"We will rest now and then we have got one more friendly before the season starts and then the qualifying starts for the World Cup so that is the next aim.
"We don't want to make excuses and we still don't. The manager changes and done a great job. The lads have enjoyed working with him at this tournament and hopefully there is a lot more tournaments to come."
Italy now face Germany in the semi-finals of the tournament on Thursday.
Matt Cotton
