French toast

Brazil stunningly sent home after 2-2 draw with Turkey

SAINT-ETIENNE, France (AP) -- Saint-Denis. Saint-Etienne. Perhaps Brazil should just stop coming to France, or at least avoid a place that starts with Saint.

After losing the World Cup final in Saint-Denis in 1998 to France, Brazil suffered another blow on French soil Monday when it was ousted from the Confederations Cup following a 2-2 draw with Turkey in Saint-Etienne.

In between those two losses, Brazil captured its record firth World Cup title in Japan and South Korea last year, twice beating Turkey along the way, including the semifinals.

And although it came here with a young, experimental side and had only two players from that match in Monday's game, Carlos Alberto Parreira's team went home in bitter disappointment.

"It was a close and interesting match," Parreira said. "We played our best game of the tournament in the first half but still we went out."

Brazil should have led by more than Adriano's 23rd-minute goal at halftime. His fellow striker Ilan hit the post and had another effort cleared off the line.

But Turkey turned the match with a tremendous second-half performance and squeezed past Brazil and into the last four, getting just the draw it needed to go through.

African champion Cameroon, which drew 0-0 with the United States in Lyon in the second match Monday, won Group B with seven points. Turkey and Brazil finished on four points each, but Turkey went through because it had scored four goals, one more than Brazil.

In Thursday's semifinals, defending and European champion France will play Turkey in Saint-Denis, while Cameroon faces Colombia, the South American champion, in Lyon.

Turkey confirmed that its third-place finish in last year's World Cup was no fluke, although it too came here with a young team. Still, it had six players from that semifinal in Monday's lineup.

"We played a great game tonight," Turkey coach Senol Gunes said. "This is an important tournament for us because we are testing new players."

Gunes had boldly predicted that his team would reach the final and play France for the title. Now, it will have to beat France to make the final.

"We'll be more tired than France, because we have to travel to Paris and France is staying there and playing at home. France has a lot of great players and they are the European champion," Gunes said.

Before 30,000 mostly Turkish fans in Saint-Etienne, Brazil had things firmly under control for nearly an hour, until Gokdeniz Karadeniz equalized.

The goal stunned Brazil and rejuvenated a Turkish side that had looked flat until then. The Turks stepped up the pace and suddenly began playing with a lot more confidence and determination.

Brazil, which had exploited the flanks almost at will in the first half, now found the lanes closed and the Turks swarming every section of the field.

Parreira reacted by making three substitutions, and one of them, midfielder Alex, made some fast, incisive forward passes that gradually put his team seemingly back in control. But by then the Turks were happy to rely on fast breaks, knowing that a draw was all they needed.

And it was just such a brilliantly executed counterattack that produced Turkey's second goal after Yildiray Basturk beat an offside trap at the midfield line and moved the ball swiftly forward, with a free man both on the left and the right, and all Brazilians defenders stranded far behind.

Basturk passed to his left and Okan Yilmaz had the simple task of slotting it past the helpless Dida. Okan Yilmaz had come in after 35 minutes for Volkan Arslan and had a lot to do with Turkey's revival as a second forward.

Far into injury time, Alex tied the score for Brazil on pass from Ronaldinho, who then got into a tangle with goalkeeper Rustu Recber and was sent off as time ran out.

"We wanted to reach the final and observe players. At least one of those was achieved. We've got other players to test. We got 2 1/2 years until the next World Cup finals," Parreira said.

Because of a rule change, Brazil will not qualify automatically as defending champion for 2006 in Germany.

"We lost our way a bit after the first goal. Some of us were tired but that's not an excuse," said Adriano, the burly Parma striker who finished the tournament with two goals.

 

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