Third-placed playoffs are the great collar looseners of World Cups. And on a hot, humid day in Daegu on 29th June 2002, the whole shirt came off. Two dark horses, Turkey and South Korea, became stablemates forever with fans cheering both sets of players’ names as they were read out prematch, the two teams interlinking arms, and coaches holding dual flags. Nice stuff, so much so that Turkish paper Miliyet reported “Our Korean friends gave a perfect lesson in fair play. The images of friendship were incredible. Good moves from the Turkish team or Korean team were applauded. The friendly atmosphere continued even after the match. Players of both teams were saluting the crowds hand in hand, arm in arm. Such friendliness brought tears to the eyes of our players.”
And in amongst it all, was a football match splattered with cult players, five goals, and some farewells from national heroes…
Ayse Ventura: Goal Detective
İlhan Mansız is a beautiful, beautiful human being. Two goals and an assist here for the man known as the ‘Turkish Beckham’ across his native country and who was mobbed by screaming fans from all nations while at the World Cup. Websites filled with messages of love were set up in his name, and he was nicknamed ‘Ayse’, the diminutive of Aisha, for his long hair, dress sense, and pretty features. Poets compared his eyes to oysters, which isn’t a very appealing thing for eyes to look like, if you think about it hard enough. They’re more like almonds anyway.
But Ilhan was more than just a pretty face. Rainbow flicking Roberto Carlos. Scoring what turned out to be the last ever World Cup golden goal against Senegal, with a very louche scooped finish. A sort of journeyman already at age 27, Ilhan had been at Koln, Gençlerbirliği, Türkgücü München, Kuşadasıspor, and Samsunspor before finally arriving at Besiktas in 2001. 36 goals in 66 games for the Black Eagles was a pretty decent haul before he decided to return to Japan with Vissel Kobe.
A car accident cut short his career, so; aged 33, Ilhan became a professional figure skater after competing on the Turkish version of Dancing With The Stars with his girlfriend. They would then go on to compete in Olympic qualification for Turkey at the 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy, where Ilhan and his partner finished dead last. They still continue to compete to this day, which, you know, fair play, Ilhan. Fair fucking play.