Henri Michel has urged his successor as Ivory Coast coach to work to eradicate the teething problems that prevented the World Cup debutants from reaching the knockout stages.

The Elephants ended their first appearance on the big stage with a thrilling 3-2 win over Serbia and Montenegro in Munich on Wednesday evening where they had to come from two goals down.

Michel was pleased with the first victory for the Ivory Coast at the World Cup but was frustrated that a team he felt had the ability to go a long way in the tournament had missed out on a last 16 berth after defeats to Holland and Argentina in what was widely considered to be the tournament's "group of death".

Michel, who announced at the post-match press conference that he was taking a job as coach to an undisclosed Qatar-based club, said: "We have shown we can play good football and we have now got used to playing the heavyweight nations in the game.

"That experience can be good and now it must be taken forward from here," said the Frenchman who has coached France (1986), Cameroon (1994) and Morocco (1998) in previous World Cups.

"It's important that we improve and of course the fact that we have qualified for the first time is another sign of how we are developing. That was what my first mission was."

Michel admitted that the defence was the first area of concern, with frailty at the back contributing to defeats against Argentina and Holland in matches where the Ivory Coast played some good football.

"If the Ivory Coast wants to be victorious then we must sort out this sort of defensive problem," said Michel. "But my destiny is in Qatar now.

"We are known for the quality of our attacking play and that's good even if one or two players were not quite at their peak in this World Cup."

Serbia and Montenegro took a 2-0 lead through Nikola Zigic and Sasa Ilic before two Aruna Dindane goals, the first coming from the penalty spot, evened things up.

The sending-off of Serbia and Montenegro substitute Albert Nadj further tilted the match towards the Africans who were then awarded another penalty in the 86th minute.

Dindane spurned the chance of the first hat-trick of the 2006 World Cup by allowing substitute Bonaventure Kalou to convert the winning penalty before the Ivorians were also reduced to 10 men by the sending-off of Cyrille Domoraud, whose defensive clanger had earlier allowed Ilic to score.

The thrilling encounter delighted the 66,000 fans in Munich although, with both teams eliminated already, it was ultimately futile.

Man-of-the-match Dindane, aged 26, explained why he had allowed Kalou to take the penalty, saying: "I think my friend wanted to score.

"We are a team and we are all friends and that's the way it is with us.

"The group of players is much more important than individuals and he wanted to take it so it was right to let him have a go."