Kedah's Tan Cheng Hoe is being forced to bide his time after receiving an official invitation from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), but the national body has yet to identify a head coach for work alongside him.
Tan was earmarked as Malaysia assistant to Mario Gomez until the former JDT boss from Argentina turned down a reduced financial package.
"I received an offer letter from FAM on April 5, but I have yet to be released by the Kedah FA, who are still scouting for my replacement," Tan told ESPN FC.
"Until then, I will still continue as Kedah head coach, but I hope they can find a successor as soon as possible to allow me to start work in FAM. I have a lot of work to do, including scouting for players and preparing the outline for the national team programme."
Tan tendered his resignation letter to the Kedah management on April 3 so he could work under the Crown Prince of Johor (TMJ), who took over as FAM president last month.
But after Gomez deal fell through, FAM are still searching for a new man to replace Datuk Ong Kim Swee, who has been bumped down to coach the Malaysia U23 squad for August's Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur.
Once he comes on board, Tan is likely to be Malaysia's interim head coach if FAM have yet to find a satisfactory alternative to Gomez.
But the bespectacled Tan, who has led the Canaries on an unbeaten run this season, is ready to assume full responsibility for the time being.
He said: "I do not know if I will be in charge of the Asian Cup qualifier against North Korea [on June 8], but I am ready to serve to the fullest of my capacity. I want to try and help the country out as much as possible."
At Kedah, the 48-year-old has trademarked a phenomenal possession game, but says he has no plans to impose that style on his future boss. He won the Malaysia Cup in 2016, having taken Kedah to the final the previous year, both times facing Selangor.
"I can't call the shots... that is the job of the new head coach. But I will give him suggestions and I am sure we can develop something good for the national team," he added.
ESPN FC understands that TMJ is still looking for a European coach to spearhead Malaysia's challenge in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, and possibly beyond.
His preference would seem to rule out the likes of Malaysia-based Croatian Bojan Hodak or Thailand's Kiatisuk Senamuang, who have had considerable success in the region.
Malaysia's Group B qualifier against North Korea was supposed to have been played in Pyongyang last month, but was postponed, due to political tensions and security concerns.