Turkey in the Semi-Finals of the World Cup - 2002-06-23

The Turkish national football team, thanks to a golden goal by Ilhan Mansiz, won 1-0 against Senegal and advanced to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup. The battle between these two teams, both of whom were surprises in the quarter-finals, was a tough one where neither team was willing to back down. The attacking lines of Turkey and Senegal were led from the start by Hasan Sas and El Hadji Diouf. The match remained 0-0 until the end of regular time. In the 4th minute of extra time, Ilhan Mansiz, who had entered the field in the 67th minute instead of Hakan Sukur, scored the winning goal for Turkey from a beautiful cross by Umut Davala, thus marking Turkey's first-ever advancement to the World Cup semi-finals in history. This was Turkey's first appearance in the World Cup in the past 48 years. Senegal, which thrilled spectators with its style of play and created the first surprise of this year's tournament by defeating France, the defending champion, was participating in the World Cup for the first time and is recorded as the second African team to progress this far in World Cup history. Cameroon was the first African team to reach the quarter-finals in the 1990 World Cup. Turkey's match against Brazil in the semi-finals will be the second encounter between these two teams in the 2002 World Cup. Brazil had controversially defeated Turkey 2-1 in their first match, making the upcoming match on June 26 a revenge match for Turkey.