Togo leave after pay dispute overshadows Cup debut

COLOGNE, June 24 (Reuters) If being a World Cup debutant with little chance of qualifying for the second round is all about winning hearts rather than games, Togo leave Germany not having done that well for themselves.

The team from the tiny West African country grabbed more headlines with their infighting over pay than with their skills and at one stage were closer to staging the first match boycott in the history of the competition than to winning a point.

Already out after their first two matches -- defeats by South Korea and Switzerland -- Togo put in a strong first half performance in their last match yesterday against France, who needed to win, but conceded twice in the second period.

They left the tournament with just a solitary goal.

Coach Otto Pfister kept reporters guessing about his plans when he dodged any questions about the future after the defeat by France, having quit his team temporarily on the eve of the tournament and announced that he may sue the FA president.

Before a ball had been kicked at the finals, the Swiss-based German coach walked out on Togo saying that he could not do his job while his players were busy fighting with officials over pay bonuses and boycotting training sessions.

He returned in time for their opener, after Togo's talks with another Africa-veteran Winfried Schaefer stalled, shooing away the assistant coach who had hastily claimed the top seat.

Pfister, who has coached eight countries before Togo, stayed firmly in charge even after a leading FA official called him a drinker and said Pfister was not the right man for the job.

The pay row was finally settled but only after soccer's world governing body FIFA stepped in to stop the players from boycotting the match against Switzerland -- the squad's last effort to force the Togo FA to meet their pay demands.

All that arguably distracted the team, many of whom play in Europe's lower leagues, but the way the crises were handled also left a bad taste for commentators and fans.

Media from around the world had descended on Togo's team base in the sleepy southern spa town of Wangen.

Little sums up better the journalists' puzzlement over Togo than one answer to a British television crew that repeatedly asked for an explanation about the crisis in English.

''Yesterday I was able to speak English. Today I just speak French,'' was the spokesman's startling reply in fluent English.

The squad, who initially asked for 155,000 euros (195,000 dollars) each, kept saying they were playing for the honour of a country where average per capita income is well below 1,000 dollars.

Pfister said the team have a bright future despite all the problems. They will surely do much better if they can focus all their efforts on the pitch rather than squabbling off it.

REUTERS DH KP1708