P	W	D	L	F	A	PTS
Brazil		3	3	0	0	11	3	9
Turkey		3	1	1	1	5	3	4
Costa Rica	3	1	1	1	5	6	4
China		3	0	0	3	0	9	0

Qualify For The Second Round


13 JUNE 2002

COSTA RICA			2-5		BRAZIL
Wanchope 40					Ronaldo 10, 13
Gomez 56					Edmilson 38
						Rivaldo 62
						Junior 64

Marin turned Edilson's centre past Lonnis though Ronaldo tried to claim the
goal. Ronaldo got a second chance on a corner - brilliantly shuffling his feet
in a packed penalty area before squeezing the ball inside the post. Centeno,
Wright and Gomez missed absolute sitters and were duly punished when
Edmilson made it 0-3 when he turned in Junior's deflected cross with a
fantastic scissor kick . Wanchope played a one-two with Wright inside the
box and his shot deflected in off Lucio. Rivaldo then missed an open goal
from Ronaldo's centre and curled a free kick against the post.

Costa Rica threatened to get back into the match following a brilliantly worked
goal. Bryce ran onto a sublime pass from Centeno and Gomez met his cross
with a spectacular diving header. Brazil hit back with two goals in 10 minutes.
Rivaldo made it 2-4 from Junior's centre. An outrageous first touch allowed
Junior to instantly kill a ball over the top from Edmilson and he blasted inside
the post. Junior then almost scored at the other end as his clearance came
back off a post and Wright predictably made a mess of the rebound. Substitute
Fonseca then got in on the act and missed another chance. Bryce left Edmilson
in a trance with a superb dummy, Marcos came off his line and blocked,
Wanchope latched onto the ball and shot against the crossbar.

I cannot believe Brazil will win the World Cup playing football like this.
Costa Rica have the worst attack in the entire World. They incredibly
managed to out shoot Brazil, both on and off target. Brazil's defence was
as poor as Costa Rica's attack.

"Sad for the result? Yes, of course but we are very proud, extremely happy
of our style. We came here to the World Cup to show the improvement of
the football in Costa Rica. So today we showed that against one of the
important national teams, Brazil, and like you said, it was a very good
game and an very exciting game." - Alexandre Guimaraes

"We understand that people see us as favourites, but we do not consider
ourselves as such. We just go step by step, and it is a very good perspective
for us. In the second phase, every game is difficult. We have to keep our calm,
understand our power and understand that we have to reach each game with
our mind concentrated on the game itself. The next stage will be very hard,
so we will prepare for that." - Luiz Felipe Scolari

Assists : Bryce, Junior, Edmilson


TURKEY				3-0		CHINA
Hasan Sas 6
Bulent 9
Umit 85

Hasan Sas gave Turkey a dream start when he emphatically punished a
defensive mistake then made the second for Bulent with a deep cross. Turkey
sat back and Yang almost snapped the crossbar in half with a superb volley.
Jiang made a spectacular one handed save from Sukur. Umit scored a late third
with a crisp volley, the outstanding Hasan Sas supplied the cross.

"We promised Turkey would qualify for the World Cup finals and then qualify
for the second round. We kept our promise. Since coming to the World Cup
everything has been going as we planned and it still is. The only thing that
disappointed us was the draw against Costa Rica. Today we deserved a
victory." - Senol Gunes

"When you lose a game it's difficult to excuse everything, but I think this is
the difference when you play for the first time ever in the World Cup. Small
detail makes big difference. This was a great effort, this was our best game
in the World Cup." - Bora Milutinovic

Assists : Hasan Sas (x2)
Red Card : Shao 59 (China)


9 JUNE 2002

COSTA RICA			1-1		TURKEY
Parks 86						Emre 56

Centeno should have put the finish on an excellent moved started by Lopez
and Gomez. Sukur wasted two great chances from a corner and a great ball
over the top from Emre. Gomez took out Ergun with a sensational dummy
in the box but shot horribly wide. Emre squeezed the ball over the line after
Martinez blocked his initial shot. Medford launched a free kick into the box,
Wanchope headed down to Bryce, he went airborne and sent an overhead
kick to the back post and Parks rifled the ball into the net. Outstanding goal.
Parks ran onto a Lonnis goal kick, rounded Emre and shot wide, terrible finish.

Costa Rica's build-up play in the second half was breathtaking. Shame
Wanchope didn't get on the end of the chances. Costa Rica should have left
with three points. Good match, worth watching for some of the football in
the second half.

"It was a very interesting and difficult game, of course, because we haven't
been playing long. My team played a beautiful game with so much power
and a very aggressive play. We played attackingly, and I'm proud of our
team." - Alexandre Guimaraes

"We wanted to win. In the first half, we played good football. In the second
half, we scored a goal but our players got really tired, and Costa Rica began
to play more offensively and they began to take more chances. When the
game was finished, it was disappointing." - Senol Gunes

Assist : Bryce


8 JUNE 2002

BRAZIL				4-0		CHINA
Roberto Carlos 15
Rivaldo 32
Ronaldinho 45 (Pen)
Ronaldo 55

Bobby Carlos shot Brazil into the lead with his first free kick at international
level for five years. Rivaldo volleyed Brazil further in front from a Ronaldinho
cross. Ronaldinho converted from the spot after Ronaldo had been hauled
down in the box. Ronaldo tapped in at the far post from Cafu's centre. Zhao
had China's best chance, curling a shot against the post. Shao went close
with a free kick. Jiang made an excellent save from Ronaldo. 

"We already knew that China would start the match with some pressure. So
we decided to wait the first 10-15 minutes. We started to play our game and
distributed the ball as we wanted. We knew we are technically superior to
China and things went well." - Luiz Felipe Scolari

"I'm very happy with how we played. The players were very disciplined and
I'm happy how they played tactically. I'm disappointed that we lost."
Bora Milutinovic

Assists : Ronaldinho (won free kick), Ronaldinho, Ronaldo (won pen), Cafu


4 JUNE 2002

CHINA				0-2		COSTA RICA
						Gomez 61
						Wright 65

Solis muscled his way through Li as the midfielder tried to cut out a pass but
shot at Jiang. Paulo Lambchop was tackled in the box the ball fell at Gomez'
feet and he whipped it inside the post. Gomez made the second. He received
the ball from a short corner, spun in the box and crossed, Wright scored with
a brilliant flick header. Gomez should have added a third following a defensive
blunder. He rouned the 'keeper, a defender and the keeper again before
shooting at goal but Li made a great clearance off the line.

"It's the World Cup. Still have two more games. It's football so no one knows
what exactly could happen." - Bora Milutinovic

"I think it was a hard game, a very hard game. We knew the Chinese national
team was strong and very well organised but during the development of the
game we had a chance and made it." - Alexandre Guimares

Assist : Gomez


3 JUNE 2002

BRAZIL				2-1		TURKEY
Ronaldo 50					Hasan Sas 47
Rivaldo 87 (pen) 

Ronaldo jinked past Fatih and Alpay on the left and picked out Rivaldo with a
perfect cross but he headed at Rustu. Rivaldo selfishly tried his luck from
distance with Ronaldo running into space. Rivaldo flicked on a Marcos goal
kick to Jerry curl (Ronaldinho), he flicked the ball inside Umit but tried to be
too clever with the finish and Rustu saved. Hasan Sas gave Turkey the lead
in first half injury time. Basturk chipped the ball over Roque Junior and Cafu
and Hasan Sas volleyed past Marcos. Great finish.

Edmilson carried the ball deep from his own defence, taking out a midfielder
with a great dummy, then slipped in Rivaldo, Rivaldo tried to go round Rustu
but his shot was blocked and Ronaldo was denied on the rebound by Bulent.
Brazil scored seconds later. As  Turkey tried to counter attack Roberto Carlos
won the ball with an excellent slide tackle. Lucio passed to Juninho and he
sent Rivaldo racing down the left with an great reverse pass, Rivaldo whipped
a cross to the back post and Ronaldo volleyed past Rustu. Ronaldo ran through
a tackle from Fatih, destroyed Umit with a fabulous dummy, a dummy so good
half the people in the stands fell out of their seats, but couldn't find the finish
to match. Would have been on hell of a goal. Rustu made another good save
from Lucio on a corner. Juninho should have done better when Rivaldo found
him unmarked inside the box. Rivaldo had a goal wrongly disallowed for
offside. Turkey should have been awarded a penalty when Roque Junior tried
to remove his shirt. Roberto Carlos blazed over the bar after his crap free kick
hit the wall. Roberto Carlos is about as good from free kicks as Albertini. After
an inspired 80 or so minutes Rustu screwed up big time. He hit a back pass
straight to Luizao and as Luizao ran in on goal Alpay, who had already been
booked, pulled him down outside the box but Brazil were awarded a penalty.
Ilhan won Turkey a free kick with the most outrageous piece of skill I have
ever seen. He rolled the ball up against his left foot then back heel volleyed
the ball over his shoulder only to be crudely fouled by Roberto Carlos. Hasan
Sas missed a free header from the resulting free kick. Turkey's only chance
in the second half. As Rivaldo prepared to take a corner Unsal kicked the ball
against his thigh and Rivaldo fell clutching his face. Red card for Unsal.

If FIFA are serious about clamping down on playacting then they should start
with Rivaldo. The referee was terrible. He gave everything to Brazil and
continually let them get away with charging free kicks. On the balance of play
however, Brazil should have won by a landslide. It is worth noting that Brazil
looked far from comfortable on the rare occasions in which Turkey attacked.
Shades of 1982.

"The team reacted quite positively (to conceding a goal) in the dressing
room. The negative point is that we didn't take advantage of all the
opportunities." - Luiz Felipe Scolari

"I'm not in a position to judge the referee. We controlled Brazil but we
couldn't control the referee. It was not a penalty, outside the area. Referee,
outside the area, last minute. He was doing nothing. Nothing more to talk
about." -Senol Gunes

Red Cards : Alpay 86 (Turkey), Hakan Unsal 93 (Turkey)
Assists : Basturk, Rivaldo, Luizao (won penalty)