Korea's Yong-Pyo Lee tackles Turkey's Mansiz (Allsport)

By Stephen Joyce

The hard work for South Korea and Turkey starts now.

After their entertaining third-place play-off at Daegu, both sides now have the realisation that they are one of the best teams in the world.

Turkey ran out 3-2 winners over the co-hosts and their next test of strength will be the 2004 European Championships in Portugal.

England will able to examine their new-found status quickly as they are drawn in the same qualifying group and their showdown in Istanbul in the final match of the series should be a real cracker.

Turkey has struggled to match their talent to success for much of the last decade but Galatasaray's UEFA Cup victory was an important moment in their development.

A side with much home-grown talent, prodded and cajoled by Romanian legend Gheorghe Hagi, collected the trophy after victories over Leeds in the semi-final and Arsenal in the final.

Turkish club football had come of age and all that remained to be seen was if such form could be transferred to the national team.

Their previous failings centred round inconsistent form on their travels so Galatasaray's 2-2 draw at Elland Road and their final victory in Copenhagen said much about their spirit.

They entered this World Cup as dark horses, a feeling they certainly lived up to with their unlucky 2-1 defeat by finalists Brazil in the opening group game.

But they performed less creidtably with the pressure on, scrambling a 1-1 draw with Costa Rica and failing to hit the heights against the group whipping boys China.

Indeed, for 10 minutes early in the second half of those group decider, it was the talented Costa Ricans who were holding the second qualifying spot on goal difference.

Brazil eventually did the Turks a favour and from then on, Senol Gunes side played with a freedom that almost took them into the final.

Turkey are now a team to beat and it will be interesting to see how they react to that.

The likes of Brazil have lived with that for many years and still prosper.

With the experience of Yirldiray Basturk at Bayer Leverkusen and Alpay Ozalan at Aston Villa, they can surely only improve.

South Korea have been a footballing force for many years in Asia but until this tournament had failed to record a single World Cup win.

That mental barrier has now been overcome and they must take confidence from their victories over Portugal, Italy and Spain, three of Europe's heavyweight footballing powers.

Controversy aside, they also introduced a new brand of playe which involved running hard for 85 minutes - and then running harder for the last five.

By the time their matches reached extra-time, the Koreans had their opponents gasping in the humidity.

But their game did not revolve totally around fitness and the likes of superb stopper Jin-Cheul Choi, agile midfielders Ji-Sung Park and Chong-Gug Song and mercurial striker Jung Hwan Ahn, they have players who would add to any side in the Champions' League.

Ahn is to go back to Perugia where he has enjoyed a roller-coaster relationship while the others would benefit even further from appearing in the Premiership, La Liga or Serie A.

Some of the Eastern European sides have disintegrated by trying to pull together an XI playing in nine different countries.

South Korea must blend experience with comradeship to emulate this magnificent performance in four years' time.

What do you think? Send your feedback to: editorial@sportinglife.com