FRANKFURT, Germany -- Togo's World Cup debut keeps getting stranger.

The tiny West African nation may again be without a coach, three days after Otto Pfister left the team hotel in a huff and hours after Togo's federation said he agreed to return to the team.

Pfister was expected to arrive back at the team's hotel Monday evening, and the Togo federation said he would be on the bench Tuesday when the Sparrow Hawks face South Korea. But Pfister had not arrived from his home in Zurich, Switzerland, by 9 p.m. and it was uncertain when he would show up, according to federation spokesman Messan Attolou.

When asked if Pfister would coach Togo on Tuesday, Attolou replied tersely: "I'm not sure."

It was a baffling switch from earlier in the day when Attolou had said "we are partying" following the news that Pfister was returning.

The development is only the latest in an absurd sequence that has made Togo's first trip to soccer's grandest stage almost farcical.

The bizarre series of events included the country's prime minister traveling to Germany in an attempt to broker a compromise in a dispute over money between the players and the soccer federation, and Pfister storming out of the team's hotel early Saturday morning.

The team then appointed assistant coach Mawuena Kodjovi as the interim coach, and talked Sunday with former Cameroon coach Winfried Schaefer, who said he would only take over if the disagreement with the players was worked out. The talk with Schaefer angered Kodjovi, who has been with the team since 1994 and felt he was more than capable of leading the Sparrow Hawks.

That all seemed to be behind Togo when both the federation and Pfister's son and agent, Mike, said the 68-year-old German was returning. Instead, the team remains in turmoil. It is already the lowest-ranked in the World Cup at 61 and is considered an outsider in Group G, which includes France, Switzerland and South Korea.

The players, most of whom are with smaller European clubs, have been holding out for $200,000 each to play in the tournament, plus $39,000 each per win and $20,000 per draw.

Otto Pfister stormed out of the team hotel early Saturday morning in disgust at the federation's failure to agree to pay bonuses to the players, who had staged repeated no-shows at training sessions. He repeatedly refused entreaties from the players to return.

The dispute over the bonuses dogged much of Pfister's three-month tenure with Togo. The oldest coach in the World Cup, Pfister took over in March to replace Nigeria's Stephen Keshi, who was fired after the team's poor performance at the African Cup of Nations.

Pfister's son and agent, Mike, told FIFAworldcup.com that his father's decision to return was "a matter of the heart."

It appears there may have been a change of heart again.

Associated Press writer Ebow Godwin in Lome, Togo, contributed to this story.