Alpay has been superb for Turkey (Allsport).

By Jason Hughes, PA International, Yokohama

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Alpay has carried his club form with Aston Villa on to football's biggest stage with apparent ease.

The 29-year-old centre-back has been the rock on which Turkey have built a most unlikely World Cup campaign.

When they kicked off against Brazil on June 3 it was the first time Turkey had been at the tournament in 44 years.

Now with Alpay marshalling a solid back line they are set for a semi-final reunion with the boys from Brazil.

Alpay will be hoping for a better ending than their Group C opener.

The towering defender was sent off for hauling down Rivaldo three minutes from time, with the Barcelona star hitting the winner from the spot.

Alpay would have felt hard done by because television replays showed the incident occurred outside the box.

After missing the other two group games, he returned to the side for the 1-0 second-round win over co-hosts Japan.

His prominent performance was replicated as Turkey kept their third successive clean sheet in the golden goal victory over Senegal.

Alpay's displays in the Far East have shown why Villa forked out £5.6million two years ago to tempt him from Fenerbahce.

His arrival in the Premiership came on the back of his impressive showing at Euro 2000 when Turkey reached the quarter-finals.

The Turks have gone one better at the World Cup to reach the last four and have already unsettled the Brazilians once in the tournament so far.

If they are to gain revenge for that defeat Alpay will need to be on top form to keep out Rivaldo and Ronaldo.