No place safe in South Korean team: Advocaat

Dick Advocaat, with just eight months to prepare South Korea for next World Cup, warned his players that nobody had a guaranteed place in the squad for the 2006 finals in Germany.

Dutchman Dick Advocaat, with just eight months to prepare South Korea for next World Cup, warned his players that nobody had a guaranteed place in the squad for the 2006 finals in Germany.

In his first press conference since taking accepting the job as national coach two weeks ago, Advocaat said big reputations would count for nothing under his leadership.

"It doesn't matter ... who you are," said the 58-year-old, who served two terms as Netherlands national coach. "If you don't have what we want, we'll pick another player."

Advocaat said that his main task was to restore confidence to a side that has rarely performed to expectations during the past three seasons.

He said he was only interested in players ready to give 100 percent.

"If someone is not doing that in training or on the pitch, then we take another player," he said.

He took over from fellow Dutchman Jo Bonfrere, who quit last month after complaining that senior players had lost their passion for the game.

Bonfrere lasted barely a year in the job after replacing Portuguese coach Humberto Coelho, who also departed under a cloud after about a year.

On arrival here on Thursday Advocaat said the target for the 2006 World Cup in Germany was to equal the glory days of 2002 when the side reached the semi-finals of the World Cup on home soil.

"We know that if we work hard, we can get a result," he said.

Advocaat's first game in charge will be a home friendly against Iran on October 12. Iran have also qualified for the finals.

The Dutchman is accompanied by his assistant Pim Verbeek, who served in the same position under Guus Hiddink, South Korea's 2002 World Cup run coach. He also has Hong Myung-Bo, the 2002 team captain, on his coaching staff.

Advocaat, who quit as United Arab Emirates head coach to come to South Korea, will serve until the end of the World Cup finals starting in June next year. The contact could be extended until the end of the Asian Cup in August 2007.

Advocaat's international coaching career includes his 1992-94 stint with the Dutch national side, which he led to the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Cup.

A decade later he was back as national team coach and led the side to the semi-finals of Euro 2004. He has also had sucessful spells as a club coach, including at PSV Eindhoven and Glasgow Rangers.