Jun 27, 2002 5 min read

SAITAMA, Japan (AP) – They barely made it out of South American qualifying. They were called soft, even not very talented. So guess where the Brazilians are? In the World Cup final, for the seventh time and third in a row.

Riding the finishing touch of Ronaldo and the stinginess of goalkeeper Marcos, Brazil beat Turkey 1-0 Wednesday night. Next up is Germany, also in its seventh title game. The Germans have won three championships, one fewer than Brazil’s record.

Oddly, they’ve never met in the World Cup, let alone for the crown of the world’s most popular sporting event. That will change Sunday night in Yokohama.

“We have won nothing yet. Now we have to go after the real trophy,” Ronaldo said. “We have to keep our feet on the ground.”

Ronaldo got his tournament-best sixth goal and Marcos protected the slim lead with several spectacular saves. Brazil has won all six of its games, three by shutout, not bad for a team considered perhaps the weakest entry the nation has sent to the soccer championship.

But their struggles in qualifying, when they needed to beat Venezuela in the last game to get to the first World Cup in Asia, are long forgotten. Their inability to mesh no longer is a consideration – indeed, coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has them playing like, well, champions.

“We expected victory, maybe by a higher difference of goals,” Scolari said. “Didn’t happen.”

But enough happened, particularly on the goal, an end-to-end piece of magic. Roberto Carlos, effective at both ends all night, chested the ball back to goalkeeper Marcos, leading to midfielder Gilberto Silva’s sprint down the left wing.

He found Ronaldo, who despite being surrounded by three Turks, surprised goalie Rustu Recber with a quick, low right-footed shot in the 49th minute. The ball swerved just enough that Recber could only get his fingertips on it before the shot rolled into the net.

“I kicked it with the tip of my foot, like Romario,” Ronaldo said, referring to the star of Brazil’s 1994 championship team.

The stands, packed with yellow-clad Brazilian fans fully expecting an unprecedented fifth world championship, erupted in cheers. Many danced the samba to the pounding drums and shaking maracas, clickers and whistles.

They can dance all the way to Yokohama.

“It is really a task and it is really something really big,” Scolari said, referring to the final. “Germany is a strong team, a team with a lot of tradition, a team that deserves all respect.”

So do the Turks, who in their first World Cup in 48 years surpassed all expectations.

“We came to the World Cup to take part in the festival and make an impact,” coach Senol Gunes said. “I think we’ve achieved our goal.”

Turkey plays South Korea in the third-place game on Saturday in Daegu, South Korea.

“We are sorry about only one thing,” Gunes added, “that we couldn’t give the Turkish people another source of happiness.”

They came close several times. Marcos barely got his hands on a deflection that would have been an own goal, his third superb stop of the match. He made two more moments later, including a soaring finger save on Ilhan Mansiz’s floater, and a diving block of Hakan Sukur’s off-balance volley.

It was Recber, however, who was under siege much of the night. The Turkish defense that blanked its last three opponents was springing leaks, and no one finds such openings the way Brazil does.

Kleberson and Edilson had point-blank opportunities. Kleberson shot right into Recber, and Edilson went inches wide.

Recber even sprinted out of the net to clear a long ball that could have been a breakaway by Rivaldo.

At the end, Brazil’s players mobbed each other, as much in celebration as relief. They hope to erase the memories of their 3-0 championship-game loss to host France at the 1998 World Cup.

Brazil avoided the upsets of this tournament, because it usually finds a way to succeed on soccer’s biggest stage.

It found a way against a rugged Turkish team that tested the Brazilians before losing 2-1 in the first round on a controversial penalty kick by Rivaldo. It found a way without the suspended Ronaldinho, who starred in the quarterfinal victory over England. Ronaldo – sporting an unusual hairdo in which most of his head was shaved, but a patch remained in the front – supplied much of the playmaking before he was replaced by Luizao in the 68th minute.

And Luizao nearly scored three minutes later, putting a scissors kick just over the crossbar.

If not for the brilliance of the goalkeepers, the game might have been 3-3.

On Emre Belozoglu’s 20-yard left-footed free kick, Marcos had to dive to punch out the ball in the 9th minute. He also made a splendid stop when Alpay Ozalan got his head to a cross from Fatih Akyel.

Then Recber put on a goalkeeper’s clinic.

Ronaldo’s clever pass freed Cafu on the right wing and, from 10 yards, he was foiled by Recber’s lunging stop. Almost immediately, Roberto Carlos dribbled into the penalty area for a 15-yard shot that barely went wide.

And then Recber made the two best saves of the opening half. Rivaldo was alone on the left side for a hard drive that Recber sprawled to stop, only to put it on Ronaldo’s right foot. Somehow, Recber stopped that close-range shot.

He wasn’t done, coming up with another spectacular diving save on Rivaldo’s wicked blast, only to see the Brazilian star come right back, missing wide right by inches from 15 yards. Recber made another diving stop on Roberto Carlos, and the goalkeeper was kicked in the head by Edilson in a scramble. Recber stayed down for a few minutes, and the teams began pushing and shoving as the half ended.