Sven-Goran Eriksson felt his Côte d’Ivoire players had made their country proud despite seeing their FIFA World Cup™ campaign end today. Côte d’Ivoire ran out comfortable 3-0 winners over Korea DPR in their final Group G game in Nelspruit but it was not enough to earn a place in the second round.

The African side claimed a creditable draw with Portugal in their first match but their chances of progressing from a tough group were ultimately undone by a 3-1 loss to Brazil.

Former England boss Eriksson said: “It is a pity we have to leave because this team is getting better with every training session. But that is life, we are out and we have to accept that. If you look at the three games we have played they should be very proud of themselves and the country should be proud of them. The team are leaving the World Cup with their heads held high.”

Côte d’Ivoire went into the game with a theoretical chance of progressing but it would have required victories for both them and Brazil, who faced Portugal, with a nine-goal swing in their favour. That task was rendered irrelevant by the draw in the other match but Eriksson’s side certainly played as if it was possible.

They completely overran a poor Korea DPR side and bombarded their goal with 28 shots. In the end they only had goals from Yaya Toure, Romaric and Salomon Kalou to show after a combination of wastefulness, bad luck and belated Korean resistance denied them.

Eriksson said: “It is difficult to go out in a situation knowing you have to score eight goals to go through but they kept their discipline and created a lot of chances.”

Eriksson’s short-term deal to coach Côte d’Ivoire has now come to an end and speculation about his future has already begun. The former Manchester City manager has already been linked with a return to England with Fulham – should Roy Hodgson leave – but Eriksson would not comment on his future, other than to say it is not with Côte d’Ivoire.

The Swede said: “It was very clear when I took the job it was to the end of our World Cup and that is today. From tomorrow I will stay in some days, maybe watching some football and then I will take some holiday. Then, we will see, I don’t know.”

The North Koreans’ decision to switch to a five-man defence in the second half spared the Asian side from embarrassment akin to their 7-0 thrashing by Portugal on Monday. Côte d’Ivoire fired 10 shots on target in the first half and they briefly entertained thoughts of scoring the required goals.

Coach Kim Jong-Hun felt Korea DPR could look back on their whole tournament, the country’s first for 44 years, as a positive experience. Kim said: “We have participated at the World Cup. We did not manage to attain our goals but we played against Brazil and Portugal, two strong international teams.

“I believe that, though we did not have good results, this has laid the foundation for us to grow in the future. This has been a very useful experience for us and it is a wonderful opportunity for us to grow our football.”

Sven-Goran Eriksson has cautioned his Côte d’Ivoire team against all-out attack in the pursuit of the avalanche of goals they need against Korea DPR in their bid to reach the last 16 at the FIFA World Cup™.

Eriksson confronts the near-impossible task of needing to make up nine goals on Portugal at the North Korens expense at the Mbombela Stadium on Friday if they are to join fellow Africans Ghana in the last 16. The former England manager, who only took charge a couple of months before the FIFA World Cup, said he will make a couple of changes to his starting line-up but rates pulling off qualification from Group G as highly unlikely.

“We are going to make some changes in the team, but not a revolution, no need to do that. We have been doing okay in these last two games,” the Swede told his eve-of-match press conference late Thursday. “I want to give a chance to a couple of others in the beginning. You can’t just attack with everything you have. North Korea will punish you if you do. We have to be disciplined and defend well. We are going to try to play and, of course, we are going to try to attack, absolutely.”

Eriksson said that team captain and spearhead Didier Drogba was improving daily in his recovery from breaking his right arm in a warm-up matc. “Didier will start tomorrow, absolutely. He’s looking better and better,” Eriksson said. “He scored one goal for us against Brazil and he almost scored another one. He had a very good training session today. He is extremely important for us tomorrow.”

Eriksson admitted he was perplexed with which Korea DPR team his players will confront on Friday. In their first appearance at the finals for 44 years, they only went down 2-1 to Brazil but then crumbled to a 7-0 thrashing by Portugal.

“I think they were extremely well-organised against Brazil and for the first 45 minutes against Portugal, then I don’t know what happened to them in the second half,” he said. “They have good players, numbers nine [Jong Tae-Se] and 10 [Hong Yong-Jo], extremely good players, very aggressive and run a lot. But I don’t know how they will be after losing 7-0 to Portugal.”

Eriksson, who said he has not thought about his managerial future beyond the FIFA World Cup, said whatever the outcome of Friday’s match, it was important for Les Eléphants to leave with pride.

“It’s a strange situation in the group. I think we have played great football, but it’s extremely difficult, you can’t tell your players to go out and score eight or nine goals,” he said. “We are going to try our best, it’s very unlikely but we are going to try. We want to leave this World Cup with our heads held high. We just want to give it a go.