 A
new World Cup record with a
goal after only seven seconds
helped Turkey on the way to
win third place at the World
Cup finals.
Song Chung-gug scored with
a deflected shot in the 93rd
minute but the game was settled
in an early flourish.
A further two goals in the
first thirteen minutes saw coach
Senol Gunes' Turks stem a recovery
from the hosts but it was the
return to form of senior striker
Hakan Sukur and his burgeoning
partnership with young star
Ilhan Mansiz that perhaps gives
the Turks a new strike force
for the upcoming Euro 2004 qualifiers.
Sukur cashed in to score the
fastest goal ever in a World
Cup finals when he robbed Korean
defender Hong Myung-bo who was
playing his final international
after an excellent career with
the Korea side as the defender
dwelt on the ball by putting
his foot on it to recover a
momentary loss of balance and
Sukur was in on goal to hit
low under goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae.
The goal equaled the fastest
ever scored in any World Cup
match matching the 1993 effort
for san Marino at home to England.
But it set a new mark for matches
at the finals beating the Czechoslovak
Vaclav Mazek’s 1962 strike
against Mexico after 15 seconds
and Bryan Robson’s 27th
second goal for England against
France in 1982.
Emre then came close to making
it 2-0 in the 7th minute when
he touched his own free kick
to the side of a defender to
hit a shot wide but Korea responded
with a great free kick of their
own on nine minutes.
Lee Eul-yong curled a left-footed
free kick in off the post with
Turkish goalkeeper Rustu Recber
beaten.
Four minutes later the European
side were back in control.
Sukur played a one-two to set
Ilhan to touch the ball back
to the younger man who stroked
it in from the middle of goal
under a challenge wide of Lee.
Ahn Jung-hwan tested Rustu
with a rising shot after a clever
turn in the penalty area with
the shot tipped over but the
Korea star was lucky to escape
punishment for a stamp after
a tackle on defender Alpay.
In the 32nd minute Rustu lashed
a long kick up field for Sukur
to head down to Ilhan who returned
the pass to run on ahead and
collect the through pass from
the Parma forward and hit a
chip on the run over Lee for
a neat finish.
Lee had to save low from a
Sukur header down at a corner
kick and then save a close range
shot on the run from the Turk
as Korea struggled to find a
way through the Turkish defence
with their own back line creaking.
Song Chung-gug cut inside in
the 50th minute to hit a rising
shot from the right hand saide
just over the bar as Korea raised
the tempo of their game at the
start and end of the second
half.
Ahn had a shot in the 83rd
minute deflected wide from a
central position with Rustu
saving a shot on the run from
substitute Cha Doo-ri two minutes
later. Song then made Rustu
dive late to save with a cross
shot on 88 minutes with Cha
heading onto the roof of the
net in the last minute from
a corner kick.
Turkey played both of the co-hosts
and Brazil twice but were on
the brink of elimination after
two group matches and ended
the tournament with great credit
as they held off Korea quite
comfortably for most of this
game.
Korea helped to make the tournament
memorable for all sorts of reasons
but now have to make sure that
the loss of coach Guus Hiddink
whose contract ends tomorrow
does not kill off their chances
of future progress.
South Korea
Woon-Jae Lee, Hong (Tae-Young Kim 46),Min-Sung Lee, Yoo, Yong-Pyo Lee, Eul-Young Lee (Cha 64),Chun-Soo Lee, Park, Song, Ahn, Seol (Tae-Uk Choi 79).
Turkey
Rustu, Akyel, Korkmaz, Alpay, Ergun, Davala (Okan 75),Basturk (Tayfur 85), Tugay, Emre (Unsal 41), Sukur, Mansiz.
Attendance: 63,483
Referee: Saad Kameel Mane (Kuwait). |
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