Oliveira - will not stand down. (Allsport)

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Portugal coach Antonio Oliveira insists he will not be a "coward" and resign despite claims he offered to quit after the early exit from the World Cup.

Speculation has been mounting that the former Porto and Sevilla boss would leave the post after failing to guide the highly faniced Portuguese into the second phase.

And on Thursday, the president of the Federation of Portuguese Football, Gilberto Madail, claimed he was considering Oliveria's resignation.

But at a 90-minute press conference in a Porto hotel on Friday night, a defiant Oliveira insists he intends to see out his four year deal.

He said: "Resignation is the biggest action of a coward. I didn't put my job at the disposal of the FA yesterday.

"The project I'm involved in is for four years.

"I was asked for qualification to World Cup, and that has been accomplished. I made mistakes, of course. We didn't do well and we failed our goals.

"We created high expectations and things didn't go well, at least as well as we wanted.

"I'm no coward and I won't fear to face my responsibilities."

That is unlikely to be an end to the matter though.

Madail claimed on Thursday he would spend a week considering Oliveria's 'resignation'. That is now being interrupted as the FPF will decide whether to dismiss him or not.

Either way, Oliveira is expecting everything.

He added: "It wont be no surprise any FA decision. It's a right of the FA president to decide it.

"But I won't drop the towel to the floor."