Patience pays for under-siege elite

So, after nearly more than half a century during which there has only been one World Cup final without either Germany or Brazil, we finally get one where they meet. Who'd have thought it, eh? Well it's funny you should ask

"I saw (Rudi) Völler at the draw back in December," grinned Brazil's coach Felipe Scolari after having watched his side complete Sunday's final line-up, "and it was a strange situation because both of our sides had struggled to even make it through their qualifying groups. We embraced each other and I said then, 'I will see you in the final'."

If the 53 year-old had his tongue in his cheek back in Busan, then he had clearly become more convinced along the way, for he admitted last night he had expected a bigger win over Turkey, a side which had again surprised him with their strength in midfield and attack.

"They are strong in both areas, but to be honest I still thought that we would win by more than a single goal. I thought that we could score more against them, but in the end it does not matter so much, we are in the final which we are happy with, and Turkey have put themselves in the top four of the world, for which I congratulate their coach.

"His team plays hard and they play differently. They create a lot of opportunities and make it very hard for another team to play against them, but we are a very positive group, I always felt a wonderful energy from all of the players and from the bench and I am very pleased with what we have achieved."

Scolari spread the praise generously, although there may have been a hint of irony in his voice when he complimented Brazil's supporters for the patience they had shown during the past few weeks.

Senol Gunes, too, had been given a rough time back at home as he prepared his squad for this championship, but by the end an overwhelming sense of expectation had developed amongst the Turkish people. "We made fewer mistakes than we had done when we played Brazil the first time, even if we did still cause ourselves problems sometimes by giving the ball away as we went forward," he said. "But that is a natural sign of my players' lack of experience of playing at this stage of such a big tournament.

"But finishing in the semi-finals is still good, I suppose, and I am proud of my players. I'm sorry we couldn't have given the Turkish people more to be happy about, but we have the chance to finish third in the world when we play South Korea on Saturday night.

"In the longer term we still have a plan to win the World Cup," he added, making no mention, though, of any particular ambitions for the forthcoming European Championships, much, you suspect, to the relief of Sven-Goran Eriksson whose England side must battle it out with them in the qualifiers.

Gunes even claimed at one stage that Brazil had been intimidated by his side last night, although if they had been it hardly showed during a game in which the South Americans produced one of the brightest attacking performances of the entire tournament. Still, the Turkey coach maintained that they had been a little overawed by the physical strength and determination shown by the Europeans. The extent to which he might have been enjoying a parting joke at his nation's great rivals was a little difficult to tell given the involvement of the translators, but when he finally observed that "the final against Germany will easy for them by comparison," it was difficult to believe he was being entirely serious.

Certainly the scorer of Saturday's winner against Senegal, Ilhan Mansiz, was neither so bold as to claim that his side had particularly frightened Brazil, nor so confident that the final would now be won by the South Americans. "We were never broken by them, we fought until the last minute and I feel we can be proud of what we have done here tonight. The game against South Korea will be good for us and all we can do is to wish Brazil success in the final, we would very much like to see them go on and win now."

Whether they can do that depends to a significant extent on whether Ronaldo can avoid a repeat of 1998 and produce something approaching his best form again at the weekend. Scolari was confident yesterday he would, insisting that the striker had only been replaced during the second half in order to rest him for the last game, while the player himself was adamant that he was ready to put his nightmare evening at the Stade de France firmly behind him.

"I don't even want to think about that now, what is important is this game with Germany," he said. "Because of '98, people accuse me of having psychological problems, but what has been wrong with me here has not been psychological but physical, I have had a thigh injury.

"It is not important now, though, I feel fine again, the nightmare is over. But after what I have been through every time I take to the pitch it is an honour and every time I score it is a victory. The goal I scored tonight has made me very happy but on Sunday I plan to score the most important goal of my career."

Will that be the fairy-tale ending this tournament has been promising us for so long now?