Spain show their anger at match officials (Allsport)

By James Dart, Sportinglife.com

You always need your fair share of luck to win at anything. That little bit of fortune which tips the balance in your favour.

In football it may be a deflection, a crucial error, or more likely, a bad decision, but every team still needs it.

Look at the first two semi-finalists in the Far East.

No matter how much Ronaldinho protests, his winning goal for Brazil against England had a tinge of fortune in the least.

Germany had to admit that the fickle finger of fate was on their side after beating a USA side that deserved victory from their quarter-final meeting in Ulsan.

Even England's glorious World Cup victory in 1966 had its fair share of fortune - remember the Russian linesman.

And now co-hosts South Korea have joined the final four of 2002 after a fair share of luck saw them to a penalty shootout win over Spain in Gwangju.

Despite forcing Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas into only one save of note during 120 minutes, they still managed to reach a dramatic penalty shootout where Guus Hiddink's side held their nerve.

The fact that they were still able to reach spot-kicks owed more to fortune than ineptitude from the Spaniards, as they saw two goals controversially disallowed before Fernando Morientes struck a post.

It was the second of these chalked-off strikes that infuriated Spain the most, as Morientes' headed goal appeared perfectly fair after Joaquin had crossed from the by-line.

But as the Real Madrid man wheeled away to celebrate what he believed to be a golden goal, it was the South Korean supporters who were going wild as they saw the referee's assistant with his flag up.

He believed the ball had crossed the line before Joaquin had crossed from the right, but television replays showed him to have made a bad decision.

Not the first time in this tournament that South Korea have benefited from poor calls to advance.

In the second-round game with Italy, they finally won a thriller 2-1 with a late golden goal after the Azzurri had lost striker Francesco Totti to a red card for 'simulation' and seen Damiano Tommasi's goal disallowed for offside.

Totti did not dive, he merely went down as the defender slid in to win the ball first.

And Tomassi was clearly onside when running on to Christian Vieri's pass.

Italy called the decisions 'a disgrace', whilst even FIFA president Sepp Blatter claimed that the Italians had been robbed by 'inadequate' decisions.

Now, I'm not going to say that South Korea are getting favourable decisions because they are a host nation.

That is rubbish.

They are simply riding their luck whilst certain decisions are going in their favour, and they deserve credit for making maximum use of their fortune.

Against Spain, they battled resiliently throughout, and although not deserving victory for their performance, dug their heels in before holding their nerve in the penalty shootout.

Coach Hiddink is the real hero for the Red Devils, although his achievement of reaching the semi-finals for the second World Cup in succession with different teams, could well be overshadowed by their controversial progression.

He has taken a side that had failed to even win a game in 14 attempts at previous World Cup finals, to the final four.

He has instilled a battling spirit into his charges, having already turned them into one of the fittest sides in the world.

His contract runs out at the end of the finals and reports have already linked him with a return to PSV Eindhoven in Holland.

But after his success over the past three weeks, it is more than likely that he will have the pick of European sides when he chooses his next coaching position.

Next up for his team are Germany on Tuesday and given their poor efforts against the States, South Korea have a great chance of reaching the final - ironically to be played in Japan.

Especially if they again utilise Lady Luck as their twelfth player.

Turkey are another surprise package in the last four after their defeat of Senegal, but deservedly so.

Senol Gunes has built a highly-organised and technically gifted team, and they were good value for their extra-time win over the Africans.

Their one problem however remains in the striking department, and their lack of goals has been compounded by the woeful form of Hakan Sukur.

His miserable run of form took became almost laughable against Senegal when he literally couldn't hit a barn door from five yards.

Hakan has clearly lost all confidence, and it was no surprise that Turkey had to bring on Ilhan Mansiz to actually find the net.

Sukur's problems on the pitch were mirrored by those of Graham Taylor in the commentary box.

After one particularly bad Hakan blunder he said: "He must make sure he doesn't lose his confidence".

I thought he already had.

The Turks gave Brazil a fright in the group stages, and will do so again on Wednesday.

They have a fine goalkeeper, an excellent defence and a silky midfield.

But without a top-class goalscorer they'll struggle to beat the really top sides.

I fear they'll need a clean sheet on Wednesday to make their first ever World Cup final.

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