FRANKFURT, June 14: A day after their defeat against South Korea, Togo were left to find not just a strategy to beat Switzerland but also a permanent solution to their long-running coaching farce.

In their first-ever World Cup match on Tuesday, the Sparrow Hawks lost 2-1 to South Korea in a game which coach Otto Pfister said afterwards the team had expected to win.

“We are very disappointed ... There was no difference between the two teams,” Pfister said after the match, adding that he would now return with the team to their Wangen base to prepare for their other matches against Switzerland and France.Back in his old ways after an unusually talkative spell out of the job, Pfister refused to comment on anything to do with the coaching saga.

Yet, while he focused on getting his team ready, doubts emerged whether the German, who quit the team late last week after being frustrated by a players' bonus dispute only to return on Monday, would actually remain in the top seat.

In outspoken comments, Togo football association secretary general Assogbavi Komlan said a decision on that was due on Wednesday and that he did not want Pfister.

Those comments highlight the split in the FA that is thought by media observers to be behind the Togolese mess over the past few days, where one faction wants Pfister and the other wants to push through assistant coach Kodjovi Mawuena.

Mawuena had found himself hastily promoted to the top post on Saturday after Pfister quit saying he could not do his job with his players distracted in a pay row.

Then talks were held to give the job to former Cameroon coach Winfried Schaefer but they stalled and got overtaken by news of Pfister's return.

Togolese officials have said their players' demands for 155,000 euros to play in the competition and 30,000 each per win, half that per draw, were too high.

The much-publicised pay row that started the coaching mess and overshadowed Togo's performance, was not yet resolved, a player said before Tuesday's match.—Reuters