From: Hildegaard Beauregard [ljlife@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 23, 2002 5:28 PM
To: Lee Jerome Life
Subject: The other underdog

Reporting from World Cup Watch Central.

Turkey defeated Senegal 1-0 on a "golden goal" in the
first extra-time period to advance to the semifinals
and a rematch with Brazil.

The surprising campaign of Senegal came to an end just
as surprisingly and abruptly, in much the same way
that Senegal had eliminated Sweden to make the
quarterfinals. After 90 plus minutes of urgent,
end-to-end play, each side attacking furiously but
meeting just as furious rebuffs from the other, Turkey
got the magic sequence four minutes into the first
sudden-death extra period. It began seeming  just as
frustrated and futile as anything else in the
stalemate. One Turkish player breaking on a run went
down on a tackle, but the ball bounded into the path
of Umit Davala, who surged on with his own run up the
right side. He curled the ball into the box and Ilhan
Mansiz, rushing in just behind a defender, had only to
raise a foot into its path to divert it past the
Senegalese keeper Tony Sylva to the far side of the
goal.

The surprising, magnificent campaign of Senegal was
over. The African nation made its first appearance in
the World Cup and began it with a victory over
defending champion France. They went on to finish
second in their group, while France finished last, and
advance to the second stage, where they knocked off
another European favorite with a marvelous golden goal
of their own. Cameroon, Nigeria and South Africa, the
African nations who were veterans in the World Cup,
all failed to make it to the second stage. So Senegal
was the upstart of Africa, both among African teams
and as the African team, advancing as far as any
African nation ever had. They became the sentimental
and popular favorite of a tournament with many
surprises and many upstarts. With the round of 16
whittling down to several traditional World Cup teams,
and with Senegal in a bracket with two other
second-round newcomers where only one could survive,
they became the hope not only of Africa, but of many
others to see someone new in the final match.

Turkey, meanwhile, was the overshadowed underdog. Just
as in other respects they are a cusp of Europe, they
seemed outsiders to the other traditional nations of
world football, but insiders compared to those like
Costa Rica and China in their first-stage group.
Turkey had been to the World Cup only in 1954. This
was their first break onto the world stage after
recent advances in European club and national
competition. The other team in their group was Brazil,
and first they played in the shadow of that greatest
World Cup nation of all, while not seeming the
underdog as either China or Costa Rica. Then,
advancing to the second stage, they played in the
shadow of Japan, a more dramatic upstart as co-host of
the tournament and for its historical achievement of
winning its group and making the second stage. Turkey
prevailed, but only to be upstaged by the sorrow of
the Japanese nation in seeing its team eliminated,
then in the next match-up by the underdog status of
the African nation.

Through all this, Turkey has carried on with solid
play in all aspects, proving a considerable force even
in their 2-1 loss to Brazil. They did what they needed
to overcome Costa Rica in the group standings by
getting the goal margin against China, 3-0, despite
the fact that Brazil gave them that margin with a 5-2
win over the Central American team. Then came Japan
and Senegal, each with morale soaring, each to have
their amazing rise eclipsed in turn by an idomitable
Turkey.

So it is the crescent moon and star which rise to the
greater height, the semifinals. Now, with Korea, they
are the underdog hope, while Brazil and Germany, with
7 World Cup titles between them, are the status quo
opposition. Turkey looks forward to a rematch with
Brazil, the only rematch produced in the competition
of this tournament, a chance to reclaim their one
defeat and eclipse the greatest of all.

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