Turkey Still Hopeful for Knock-out Round of World Cup: Gunes Says

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, June 10, 2002

Turkey Still Hopeful for Knock-out Round of World Cup: Gunes Says

Turkish national football team coach Senol Gunes said in Incheon, South Korea, on Sunday that there wasstill chance for the second round of the World Cup, reported the Anatolian News Agency.

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Turkish national football team coach Senol Gunes said in Incheon, South Korea, on Sunday that there wasstill chance for the second round of the World Cup, reported the Anatolian News Agency.

After the match against Costa Rica which ended with a 1-1 draw,Gunes told reporters that his team was so close to three points ithad targeted but gave away a very unlucky goal in the last seconds.

"Costa Rica's defense was very well organized. Despite this, wehad many scoring chances in the first half but we could not convert them to goals. In the second half, there were many opportunities for our rivals after we scored the goal. We made mistakes. We were playing to win but after the goal some of our players got tired and Costa Rica began to play more offensively and made more chances," said Gunes.

He said, "We deserved to get at least 4 points at the end of our two matches. However, we cannot achieve this. Our team is demoralized and mentally tired. Anyway, Turkey still has the chance to go to Japan. We want to benefit from this chance."

"We are here at the World Cup after 48 years. We scored our first goal against Brazil and got our first point against Costa Rica," he said. "We are confident to win the match against China and we will wait for the right result to go through."

Commenting on the performance of his team, Gunes said that goalkeeper Rustu Recber played very well and professionally by continuing to be in the game despite his injury.

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