JOHANNESBURG, May 26 - Having forged a fairytale finish in the qualifiers last year, Togo now threaten to become one of the World Cup's worst ever sides as they head to Germany.

The tiny west African country upset the formbook by topping their qualifying group ahead of Senegal, who had been World Cup quarter-finalists in 2002.

But after a dismal African Nations Cup finals campaign, in which their lack of depth was starkly exposed, Togo have fired their inspirational Nigerian coach Stephen Keshi and employed an experienced German manager in Otto Pfister to pick up the pieces.

While shades of a repeat of the last African performance in Germany -- when Zaire lost 9-0 in the 1974 finals to Yugoslavia -- are unlikely, Togo must hold out little hope of making it past the group stage.

If they were to finish ahead of two of France, South Korea and Switzerland in Group G, it would rank as an even bigger upset than their sudden elevation to the ranks of World Cup nations.

Togo, who had previously qualified for only a handful of African Nations Cup tournaments and have never won a major trophy, shocked the established order in African football by edging out Senegal.

Former Nigerian captain Keshi, a defender at Anderlecht in Belgium and France's Racing Strasbourg in his playing days, had produced a minor miracle in shepherding a group of unheralded footballers into the World Cup finals.

He was given much credit for his ability to inspire a group of players without previous international success but it all fell apart in January at the Nations Cup in Egypt.

Keshi clashed with the country's top player Emmanuel Adebayor in a public spat, and although Adebayor's behaviour was widely condemned by his team mates, it was the coach rather than Arsenal's newly-acquired striker who bore the consequences.

Togo lost all three of their matches in Egypt, in which Adebayor made just one fleeting appearance. After weeks of rumour, Keshi was fired in March and replaced by the 68-year-old Pfister, a veteran of the African and Asian coaching circuits.

Adebayor is the country's only genuine top-level footballer, a position underlined by the 10 goals he scored for Togo in the World Cup qualifiers.

The lanky forward, who previously played for Monaco in France's Ligue 1, finished as the top goal scorer in the African qualifying campaign.