June 11, 2006, 5:50AM
Schaefer in Running to Take Over Togo Team
By CLARE NULLIS Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
WANGEN, Germany — Togo's national soccer team showed up for practice Sunday, easing fears of a player boycott to protest the resignation of coach Otto Pfister.
With the other 31 World Cup teams in the tournament concentrating on soccer, Togo is embroiled in off-field drama.
A furious Pfister quit late Friday at the federation's failure to settle long-standing demands by the players for bonuses. Team officials hoped the 68-year-old Pfister would change his mind and rejoin the team Sunday, but he was absent at the morning training session.
The 23 players were there, ending rumors that Togo forward Emmanuel Adebayor, who plays for Arsenal, would refuse to play following the departure of Pfister.
Even before the turmoil, Togo was regarded as the outsider in Group G, which includes France, Switzerland and South Korea. The African team faces South Korea in its first match Tuesday.
Another German coach, Winfried Schaefer, was in the running to take over for Pfister.
Team manager Gerson Kwadjo Dobou on Saturday dismissed reports Schaefer might join the team as a "rumor," although he said the team was ready to consider all possibilities.
Schaefer, who coached Cameroon in the 2002 World Cup and was fired in 2004, let it be known he was available.
"If I were to do it, then it would be to help the players, to help Africa. But only if everything disturbing were gone. And there has to be discipline, discipline and more discipline," the 56-year-old German told the Sunday Cologne Express.
He said the Togolese had contacted him in February before they signed Pfister to replace Nigeria's Stephen Keshi, who was fired after the team's poor performance at the African Cup of Nations.
"We'll see what comes now," Schaefer said. "I am prepared to help for the duration of the World Cup."
[World Cup News]
[World Cup]
[World Cup Soccer Jerseys]
