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| June 12, 2006 | Monday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 15, 1427 |
Togo put coach decision on hold
WANGEN, June 11: Former Cameroon coach Winfried Schaefer has postponed until Monday a decision to coach World Cup finalists Togo but said he would do the job if his conditions are met.
“I was called to help but I cannot help if there is no order,” Schaefer told journalists as he left a more than four-hour meeting with Togo's officials.
“I will take the job if they accept what I have said ...(I need) order. If they accept that, it is okay, if not, it is over. I am going to Frankfurt now and they can call me there tomorrow.”
That leaves little time as Togo play their World Cup debut against South Korea in Frankfurt on Tuesday.
On Saturday, then assistant-coach Kodjovi Mawuena found himself hastily promoted to the job as Togo coach after his predecessor Otto Pfister walked out, saying he could not do his job with a pay row between players and officials unresolved.
Togolese officials then said Mawuena would stay in the job at least until the team's first match.
Schaefer, who led Cameroon at the 2002 World Cup and won the African Nations Cup with them the same year, said he would only coach the team for the World Cup.
“My club in Dubai has given the green light. It would've been good for them, given them some publicity, but I won't do it like it is right now.”
A solution to the pay row was part of the order that Schaefer needed to do the job, he said.
“I can only do my job if there is order, discipline. I managed to achieve that in Cameroon for a long time,” he said.
“The boys have a right to their bonus but I believe they have come closer (to a solution on that),” Schaefer said.
Players from the small West African country have demanded 155,000 euros ($196,200) each to play in the World Cup plus 30,000 each per win and 15,000 per draw.
Officials from a country with average per capita income well below $1,000 have said that was too much.
The pay dispute was still unresolved on Sunday but star player Emmanuel Adebayor said the team would play anyway.
“We are here to play. Of course I am going to stay. It is my job to play and defend my country. I am here and am very happy to be here,” Adebayor told reporters after a training session.—Reuters
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