China coach Bora Milutinovic has stepped down after his team finished their World Cup finals campaign with their third defeat running, losing 3-0 to Turkey on Thursday.
The result left China without a goal in their first
appearance in the finals. Milutinovic's 18-month contract with the Chinese was due to run out after the competition.
The 57-year-old Serbian said: "Now I am finished with the Chinese team. I was very happy to work with them.
"Now I need a rest and will see what is my future," he said after the Turkey game.
Milutinovic, who has also taken Mexico, Costa Rica, the USA and Nigeria to the World Cup, said: "If I retire, I am going to die."
But he declined to say if he had any job offers.
"When you lose, no one offers you nothing," he joked.
"If somebody has interest, OK, if no interest, OK."
Milutinovic said he was proud of his team's performance in their last match under his charge.
China went down 3-0 to Turkey in Seoul and will go home without a point or a goal.
"I'm happy with the way we played, and the
fighting spirit shown by our players," he said.
"I think that was our best game in the World Cup. Our team is
very young. China have a future."
The Serb had led China to their first ever World Cup but will now leave his post.
"They have learned a lot from
playing here," said Milutinovic, who has guided five teams to the World Cup finals.
"It was good to make the first step to the finals. It would
have been nice to have got the second step."
He admitted that China's chances of getting anything out of their final Group C match had vanished early in the game.
"When you go 2-0 down after 10 minutes, it's almost impossible.
"To have to play the second half with 10 players was very difficult for us," he added.