Luiz Felipe Scolari refused to rule himself out of the race to become Chelsea's manager last night but also effectively told the London club that they would have to wait until his participation at Euro 2008 with Portugal had ended before he would give serious consideration to an approach from them.
The Portugal manager, preparing Portugal for a Group A tie against Turkey, insisted that his squad had his total focus.
The Brazilian has been in this situation before. In the countdown to Euro 2004 with Portugal he was linked with the job at Benfica. Before the 2006 World Cup he was touted as England's next manager. On both occasions and for different reasons he came out on the eve of the tournament to make it clear that he would not accept the jobs. Not this time.
"I am here as the Portugal coach; I am going to work hard with the Portugal squad until the end of the Euro, which may be the first phase, the second phase or, if it is up to me, June 29 [the date of the final]," said Scolari, who will be out of contract at the end of the championship, as he was after the last World Cup.
"What is going to happen to me, whether I stay or leave, concerns me [only] and I am not going to talk about it now. I am only going to make a public declaration after the Euro.
"If something happens during the Euro, I am not going to answer [questions about it]. Something might happen one way or another and things might go this way or that but I am here to work for Portugal.
"I started to work for Portugal for 2004, 2006 and 2008; I might sign again or I might leave. It's a situation I'm going to examine, but I'm not going to answer this sort of question or talk about it and I'm going to stay quiet. I'm going to talk to my family and examine the possibilities, then I will decide."
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