The Inspiring Story of Turkey in World Cup 2002 Part 2

We continue our story about the Turkish national team in the 2002 World Cup that was held in Korea and Japan.

The Second Round

In the second round, on June 18, 2002, the Turkish national team left South Korea and headed to Japan, to face its national team.

At the Miyagi Stadium in the Japanese city of Rivu, in front of more than 40,000 spectators who filled the stands of the match stadium, the famous Italian international referee, Perugi Collina, blew his whistle, announcing the start of the match.

The Turkish national team represented the following squad in that match:

Goalkeeper: Rüştü Reçber

Defenders: Emre Aşık,, Fatih Akyel, Umit Özat

Midfielders: Tugay Kerimoğlu, Yıldıray Baştürk, Ergün Penbe, Emre Belözoğlu, Umit Davala

Forwards: Hakan Şükür, Hasan Şaş

While Japan's squad was in that match:

Goalkeeper: Seigo NARAZAKI

Defenders: Naoki MATSUDA, Koji NAKATA, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto

Midfielders: Junichi INAMOTO, Hidetoshi NAKATA, Alessandro Santos, Shinji ONO, Tomokazu MYOJIN, Kazuyuki TODA

Forward: Akinori NISHIZAWA

In the 12th minute, the Turkish player Umit Davala managed to open the scoring for his country, and the Turkish team managed to preserve this goal until the end of the match, thus Turkey defeated Japan 1-0 and qualified for the quarterfinals for the first time in its history.

The Quarter-Final Match

On June 22, 2002, at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan, the Turkish national team faced Senegal.

It was a match for history, as both teams reached the quarterfinals for the first time in their history, and therefore the winner would reach the semi-finals for the first time as well.

At 8:30 Japan time, Colombian international referee Oscar Ruiz blew his whistle, announcing the start of the match.

The nets were kept silent for 90 minutes, despite the many attempts and opportunities that both had, PaPa Bouba Diop's colleagues proved that their arrival here was not by chance, and so did Hakan Şukur's colleagues.

The match went to extra time, substitute Ilhan Mansiz broke the tie, and with it the hearts of 17 million Senegalese, in the 94th minute, when he scored the golden goal announcing Turkey's qualification to the semi-finals for the first time in its history.

The Semi-Final Match

On June 26, 2002, at the World Cup Stadium in Saitama, Japan,

The Turkish national team faced Brazil, with its eyes on taking revenge for the controversial loss it suffered against Brazil itself in the first round.

But the "samba dancers" had a different opinion, as the phenomenon Ronaldo decided the match with a goal scored in the 49th minute, and thus Brazil qualified for the final to win the title after that, while Turkey went to the ordinal match to determine the third and fourth places.

The Third-Place Match

In the ordinal match, Turkey faced South Korea on June 29, 2002, in a match that was held at Daegu Stadium in the South Korean city of Taeko.

At eight o'clock, South Korean time, the Kuwaiti international referee, Saad Kamil, blew his whistle, announcing the start of the match.

Turkey won that match 3-2, in a match that saw the fastest goal in the history of the World Cup, as Turkish striker Hakan Şukur scored the goal for his country after 11 seconds from the start of the match.

Thus, Turkey achieved third place and won the bronze medal, which is the best achievement in the history of Turkish football.