Pfister, a 68-year-old German, quit as coach saying he could not work because the players and the Togolese football authorities were embroiled in a dispute over pay.

Togolese officials then put assistant coach Kodjovi Mawuena in charge for the first game against South Korea on Tuesday. They also began talks with German coach Winfried Schaefer.

But Pfister suddenly announced he had responded to an appeal from the players to return and would be in charge on Tuesday.

"The players intervened massively. I received a fax from the (Togolese football association) president and I will sit on the bench as coach of the team tomorrow," he told Reuters.

The World Cup finals, the world's most watched sporting event, has so far avoided any major incidents of hooliganism which some experts had feared could overshadow the football.

Instead, the main trouble has been hot weather taking its toll on players and casting heavy shadows across some pitches.

FIFA said it would close the roof at Frankfurt's Waldstadion for the Togo-South Korea match on Tuesday to stop shadows spoiling television images. A German meteorologist warned that could turn the stadium into a sweltering "massive greenhouse."