Advocaat tries to keep Clockwork Orange ticking

Now in his second tenure as coach of Holland, Dick Advocaat came within a whisker of losing his job in 2003 before a 6-0 play-off drubbing of Scotland ensured qualification for the Euro 2004 finals.

The 1988 champions now face arch rivals Germany, the Czech Republic (who beat them in qualifying), and underdogs Latvia in what is widely considered the toughest first round group.

"The fact that our first match is against Germany means we have to be at 100 percent from the word go. Everyone knows about the rivalry that exists between us and the Germans," said Advocaat.

Advocaat recently led Glasgow Rangers to five titles in two years before joining Holland after Louis Van Gaal failed to qualify the team for the 2002 World Cup.

The burly coach from the Hague was a decent player during a 17-year career up to 1984 but has enjoyed more success from the sidelines.

Advocaat, who was 56-years-old in 2003, began coaching in the lower leagues but was soon spotted by then national coach Rinus Michels in 1984 who made him an assistant over a three-year spell.

That was followed by the top job at Haarlem FC and later SVV Dordrecht whom he guided to the second division title.

Row with Gullit

Another spell as assistant coach to Holland convinced the selectors to hand him the responsibility of guiding their 1994 World Cup campaign, where he was immediately involved in controversy.

Advocaat found himself in a major row with star Ruud Gullit, who quit the team on the eve of the World Cup.

Despite this setback, the team still reached the quarter-finals where they were beaten in five-goal thriller going down 3-2 to Brazil in the United States.

Now the two men have put their differences aside and in a funny twist, Gullit is now Advocaat's assistant.

A spell at PSV Eindhoven followed in 1995 and he led the club to the Cup in his first season followed by the Dutch championship in 1997.

He then spent four years in the Scottish capital where Rangers held off the challenge of bitter rivals Celtic to win two titles, two Scottish Cups and the League Cup.

Despite having a galaxy of talent at his disposal qualifying for Euro 2004 was by no means smooth.

The Czech Republic won the key tie in Prague to win the group leaving Holland to sweat it out before crushing Scotland 6-1 (1-0, 6-0) in the play-offs.