Upson focused on West Ham survival

But Upson is simply concentrating on producing his best form to seal his place in Fabio Capello's squad for South Africa.

If all goes to plan, he will be on that plane in June having helped keep the Irons in the Premier League.

He said: "I haven't really thought about next season. I've hopefully got a World Cup in the summer to focus on, so my form for West Ham will dictate how successful I am in terms of going to that.

"It's very important for me to keep playing well and for us to keep winning and doing a good job."

Upson is relishing the captaincy, despite all upheaval at the club this season, with a change of ownership, financial problems and a relegation battle.

He said: "Definitely I'm enjoying it. I have a lot of responsibility and I'm glad of that. I want more and I want us to do well. It's an important time for us."

The Irons face Hull in a must-win relegation clash at the Boleyn this Saturday and Upson feels last week's 2-0 win over Birmingham has finally shown what his side are made of.

He said: "It's been little bit tense and it's been a difficult few weeks but hopefully beating Birmingham will give us a little bit more belief and confidence to go into games and relax a bit more and get some more wins.

"We'll go into the game with the same attitude as we had against Birmingham to get a win. That's what we need to do. Everyone's aware of the situation, so let's crack on.

"We needed that win at home. We did what we had to do, got the points and we'll move on to the next game."