Soccer: Turkey third after fastest ever goal

2:00am

TAEGU, South Korea – Hakan Sukur has hit the fastest goal in World Cup finals history after 11 seconds and Ilhan Mansiz added two as Turkey beats South Korea 3-2 to claim third place.

A forward ball from Ilhan sent Hakan Sukur clear, who then spun his veteran marker Hong Myung-bo and beat goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae with a left-foot shot from 16 metres straight from the kick-off.

It was a disappointing end for South Korea's extraordinary campaign which has sparked unprecedented support from their countrymen and a somewhat subdued note for their inspirational coach Guus Hiddink to step down as had been long planned.

The match, though, was the perfect hors d'oeuvre for Sunday's World Cup final in Yokohama between Germany and Brazil.

The previous fastest goal, timed at 15 seconds, was by former Czechoslovakia's Vaclav Masek in an opening round game against Mexico in the 1962 finals in Chile.

Turkey were playing in only their second World Cup finals and first in 48 years.

They thoroughly deserved the tournament's bronze medal by quietening another passionate South Korean capacity crowd in an exciting match full of attacking play -- unusual in an anticlimactic fixture which is often treated as a friendly.

Turkey only lost twice in the tournament, both times to finalists Brazil in their opening match (2-1) and a tightly contested semi-final (1-0). Both they and South Korea were in the last four for the first time.

Hakan Sukur's goal was his first in the tournament but he said it was a case of better late than never.

"The goal was late in coming. I had to wait until today. We got a good win and we showed that if we had been in the final, we would have won," he said in a voice cracking with emotion.

Hiddink, who was lifted bodily aloft by his players after the match, said: "I now recover a little bit but I would like to get third place desperately but we made some big mistakes in the first half in defence.

"There are the emotions of a lost little final. But I can be very proud in general of these guys."
South Korea were quick to level Hakan Sukur's record goal, equalising eight minutes later when midfielder Lee Eul-yong curled a 25-metre free kick into the back of the net.

But in his first game as a starter, Ilhan put Turkey back in the lead in the 13th minute by converting a return pass from Hakan Sukur on the six-metre line, then made it 3-1 in the 32nd with a seven-metre chip over keeper Lee after another one-two with Hakan Sukur.

The second half was thrilling but without further goals until Song Chong-gug scored in the second minute of injury time with a powerful low drive.

The performance put the seal on a wonderful tournament for Ilhan, who scored the golden goal winner in Turkey's quarter-final 1-0 victory over Senegal and has emerged as one of the attacking finds of the World Cup.

In this match, he particularly linked up well with Hakan Sukur, one of Turkey's few disappointments during the finals, while usual first choice Hasan Sas sat out the match injured.

The second half produced more of the pace which both sides brought to the finals as Korea worked hard to make up the deficit, although neat one-touch passing allowed Turkey to probe the Korean defence.

But Turkey keeper Rustu was rarely tested -- before Song's late consolation -- behind a solid back four which often played the ball out of defence or watched Korean players hit wide.

Third place was by far Turkey's best-ever finals showing, ahead of the ninth spot the only other time they played, back in 1954.

South Korea's fourth place also comes as a boost to local pride as they came to the tournament without a victory in their previous five appearances, but this time swept aside Portugal, Italy and Spain on their way to the semi-finals.

- REUTERS

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