Will Rehhagel's reward be the Germany job?

Otto Rehhagel's reward for taking Greece into the final of Euro 2004 could be the job of leading Germany at the 2006 World Cup.

When Dutchman Guus Hiddink led unfancied South Korea to the World Cup semi-finals two years ago he was showered with gifts, cars, a huge cheque and the eternal gratitude of a nation.

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Otto Rehhagel's reward for going one better and taking 150-1 outsiders Greece into the final of Euro 2004 could be the job of leading his native Germany at the 2006 World Cup.

Rehhagel has yet to deny he wants the post vacated by Rudi Voller, insisting he is looking only as far as the final against Portugal at Lisbon's Stadium of Light on Sunday.

"As I've said all along I'm here to concentrate on my team. That's my obligation," said the 65-year-old coach on Thursday after front-runner Ottmar Hitzfeld turned down the German hotseat.

If the call does come from the German football federation, perhaps Rehhagel could call Hiddink, who led the Dutch to the semi-finals of the 1998 World Cup, for some advice.

Rehhagel's approach here has reminded many observers of Hiddink and the way he knitted together a team of no-hopers into a unit whose workrate would wear their opponents into the ground.

"We've been together three years and I've tried to develop the team step by step - as you've witnessed the results are there, all my players play with passion and with a great will to win," Rehhagel said.

Like Hiddink ahead of the World Cup in South Korea and Japan, Rehhagel was given great power over the Greek clubs and league authorities to organise fixtures the way he wanted them. It was the sort of control his counterparts in England, Italy, Spain and Germany can only dream of.

The 2002-2003 Greek league season for example started on August 25 at Rehhagel's insistence, who believed the clubs' preferred start date of September 15 would leave him with too little time to gather the players together at the end of the season, fully a year ahead of Euro 2004.

"We must understand that above all else is the national team. It does not belong to any one person, but to all of us," said the then President of the Hellenic football federation, Vasilis Gagatzis at the time, showing the attitude of a country which desperately wanted a good showing in the year that Athens hosts the Olympic Games.

Like South Korea, Rehhagel has built his success on defensive values and Greece have not conceded a single goal in either the quarter-final or semi-final.

And like Hiddink's astonishing Korean team, each player knows his role.

"I make certain decisions and these decisions are followed by my players - I only advise them, and we've had great results," Rehhagel said.

The German has reminded journalists of the sometimes abrasive Hiddink in other ways.

Asked whether he had called himself the 'Kaiser' after the victory over France in the quarter-finals, Rehhagel was furious and demanded the reporter reveal his source. He persisted until the UEFA mediator insisted on moving on the questions.

'King Otto', as he is nicknamed in Greece, won two German championships, two German Cups and the European Cup Winners' Cup with Werder Bremen yet has never taken the reins of the German national team.

He has a contract with Greece to take him to the next World Cup.

But would the call of his homeland prove too strong?