SEOUL, June 13: Bora Milutinovic stepped down as China’s coach on Thursday but vowed to continue coaching after leading his fifth team to the World Cup finals and the only one not to have made it to the second round.

The 57-year-old Serbian, whose contract expired after China’s 3-0 defeat by Turkey in their final group C game, gave no clue as to his future plans, saying only that he needed a break after 30 long and very lucrative months in China.

Despite China’s failure to score a single goal in the opening round, Milutinovic can now rest on his achievement as the man who took the world’s most populous nation to its first ever World Cup finals.

“Now I am finished with the Chinese team. I was very happy to work with them. Now I need a rest and will see what my future is,” he told reporters after the Turkey game.

“If I retire, I am going to die,” said the former Yugoslavian professional player who also took Mexico, Costa Rica, the United States and Nigeria to World Cup finals.

Asked if he wanted to lead a sixth team to the finals, he said: “No, I think a seventh.”

But he declined to say if he had any job offers.

“When you lose, no one offers you nothing,” he joked. “If somebody has interest, okay, if no interest, okay.”

Milutinovic will return to China with his team before watching the rest of the World Cup in Japan and then travelling in China with his family, who live in Mexico.

Although criticised by some fans for his laid-back coaching style and conservative tactics, he is sure to receive a hero’s welcome.

“He made an enormous contribution to Chinese football,” said Li Ying, 22, a fan from the northeastern city of Dalian.

“Although we didn’t perform that well, China is 100 times better than before. We wish he would stay for a few more years.”

When he took over from Briton Bob Houghton in January 2000, Milutinovic found a team of under-achievers who regarded their national duties as a political yoke.

Determined to boost morale, he preached a new creed of “happy soccer” — a bold move in a country accustomed to authoritarian coaches and strict, military-style training drills.—Reuters