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Brazil's striker Ronaldo (centre) is greeted by teammates after he scored the clincher Turkey in the semifinals of the FIFA World Cup in Saitama, Japan, on Wednesday. - AFP
Ronaldo scored in the 49th minute after he and Rivaldo had been denied by some fine goalkeeping from Turkish goalkeeper Rustu Recber. Receiving the ball on the left after a fine run from Gilberto Silva, the Inter Milan striker, with three players around him, powered his way into the penalty area and almost effortlessly poked the ball into the left-hand corner past Recber, who just managed to get one hand to it. Brazil had struggled in the South American qualifiers and was not considered one of the tournament favourite. But, like Germany, it has now qualified for a record seventh final, to be played on Sunday in Yokohama, Japan. Despite their domination, they have won seven titles between them, Brazil and Germany have never met in a World Cup. Ronaldo, who played in the 1998 final which Brazil lost 3-0 to France, sounded a note of caution. ``We have won nothing yet,'' he said. ``Now we have to go after the real trophy.''
In the first half, Rivaldo in particular, had tormented the Turks and forced some fine saves from Recber. The Turks, though, had started brightly. In the 19th minute, Brazilian goalkeeper Marcos had to dive to his right to palm out a glancing header from Alpay Ozalan. But, suddenly, the Brazilians burst into life. Rivaldo found Ronaldo who laid the ball off to the right to captain Cafu who, charging into the box, fired in a low shot that struck Recber on the underside of his body before bouncing tantalisingly over the crossbar. In the 23rd minute, Rivaldo skipped around his marker on the left of midfield before unleashing a powerful 20-metre shot, which Recber failed to hold. Ronaldo, rushing into the six-yard box, stabbed at the rebound but struck it straight at the 'keeper. In the 34th, Rivaldo again tried his luck from the edge of the area. Surrounded by four players, the Barcelona star, with virtually no backlift, fired in a shot, which Recber dived to his left to save. Edilson then passed to Rivaldo who fired in a shot from 18 metres just wide of the right-hand post. Brazil made light of the absence of the creative Ronaldinho who was serving a one-match suspension after being sent off in the quarterfinal win over England. Turkey's Hakan Sukur, yet to score at the World Cup, was clearly frustrated as he failed to latch on to Turkish breakaways. Ronaldo's goal four minutes after the break put him one ahead of Germany's Miroslav Klose and teammate Rivaldo in the race for the Golden Boot. It was the first time Rivaldo failed to score in a match at this World Cup. Brazil set out to kill the game off after taking the lead. The South Americans had a glorious chance in the 58th minute when Ronaldo turned provider and slipped the ball to Edilson who, under pressure, skewed a weak shot wide of the post. Gunes, seeking to sharpen his attack, threw on striker Ilhan Mansiz, the golden goal hero against Senegal in the quarterfinal, in place of midfielder Emre Belozoglu. Ronaldo, who had been suffering from a leg injury and appeared to be limping slightly, was taken off after 68 minutes. Sukur, who had been ineffective throughout the game, almost levelled the score in the 81st minute hooking back a high cross from Hasan Sas, only to see his sharp effort tipped around the post by Marcos. Sas received a yellow card in the 90th minute after hacking down Denilson who was showing some trickery down the right to kill time. It was his second of the knockout phase. It was a rematch of the stormy Group `C' encounter, which Brazil won 2-1 with a hotly disputed penalty. But there was little of the bad blood that had been expected in an open and entertaining game.
The teams: Brazil: 1-Marcos, 2-Cafu (c), 3-Lucio, 4-Roque Junior, 5-Edmilson, 6-Roberto Carlos, 8-Gilberto Silva, 9-Ronaldo (21, Luizao, 68th), 10-Rivaldo, 15-Kleberson (13-Belletti, 85th), 20-Edilson (17-Denilson, 75th). Turkey: 1-Rustu Recber, 2-Bulent Korkmaz, 4-Fatih Akyel, 5-Alpay Ozalan, 8-Tugay Kerimoglu, 9-Hakan Sukur (c), 10-Yildiray Basturk (6-Arif Erdem, 88th), 11-Hasan Sas, 18-Ergun Penbe, 21-Emre Belozoglu (21-Ilhan Mansiz, 61st), 22-Umit Davala (13-Mustafa Izzet, 74th). Referee: Kim Milton Nielsen, Denmark.
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