Twenty-one years ago, Turkish soccer player Hakan Sukur received a phone call from his mother.
He was in South Korea with the Turkish national team at the 2002 FIFA World Cup and his country was about to face the co-hosts in the third place game.
His mother told him something he had trouble believing at first, that he would score a goal that people would be talking about for years.
So far, Sukur had not scored a single goal for Turkey at that tournament.
“I was thinking that she was just keeping my morale up,” Sukur said. “I didn’t know what she meant by me having a fantastic goal. Was she talking about me having a hat trick? Or was she talking about me having such a good goal? She said she was certain that I would score a goal that everyone would be talking about.”
More than two decades later, his mother was right.
Sukur would score the fastest goal in World Cup history as the forward needed only 10.8 seconds after the opening kickoff to find the back of the net and put Turkey ahead.
Turkey would go on to defeat South Korea, 3-2, capping an unforgettable summer as the team defied expectations with its highest finish ever at a World Cup.
Sukur is in Odessa this week, working with children at a soccer camp that’s being put on by Peace Academy of West Texas.
The camp is taking place until Aug. 8 at the Basin Sports Complex soccer fields at UTPB.
In an interview on Wednesday, Sukur talked about his playing career and his experience with the Turkish national team.
Sukur’s playing career lasted from 1987-2008.
During that spell, he played for nine different clubs including Italian club Inter Milan and Galatasaray in Turkey.
Sukur represented the Turkish national team a total of 112 times, scoring 51 goals which makes him the nation’s top goalscorer.
Known as one of the most prolific strikers of his generation, he scored 383 goals throughout his career.
One of his other crowning achievements include being a part of Galatasaray’s 2000 UEFA Cup-winning squad, which defeated English Premier League giant Arsenal in the final.
However, none of that compares to the 2002 FIFA World Cup in which Turkey surprised everyone by advancing to the semifinals.
Only a 1-0 loss to Brazil in the semifinals kept Turkey from a spot in that year’s World Cup final.
In fact, Brazil was the only team to defeat Turkey in that tournament as both teams met in the group stage with Brazil also winning, 2-1.
“That team was very commendable,” Sukur said. “Almost half of the teammates, we had been playing together since we were 17 and 18 years old. Most of us were teammates at Galatasaray so we knew each other really well. We had a perfect combination and a great team. This really affected our success and achievement in that World Cup.”
Aside from the team’s opening loss to Brazil, Turkey bounced back with a 1-1 draw against Costa Rica before rolling off a 3-0 victory over China which was enough to clinch a second place finish in the group and a spot in the knockout rounds.
The ’02 tournament was co-hosted by South Korea and Japan and Turkey would end up beating both teams.
In the round of 16, Turkey knocked out Japan, 1-0, before needing a golden goal to defeat Senegal (another surprise team) in the quarterfinals, 1-0.
“We knew we were going to win the game against Senegal because we knew we were the better team,” Sukur said. “We should’ve finished the game before the 90 minutes were up.”
Unfortunately, Sukur and his teammates would be denied by Brazil in the semifinals, losing the rematch.
Brazil would go on to defeat Germany in the championship, 2-0, winning the country’s fifth World Cup title.
However, for Sukur and his teammates, there was still pride to play for as they ended playing in a consolation match that put him in the history books.
Despite only scoring one goal in that tournament, it was all worth it for Sukur.
“Twent-one years ago, wow,” Sukur said as he talked about his fastest-goal in history. “I remember it like it was yesterday. Until that goal, I hadn’t scored (in that tournament). But God gave a gift for me. We are speaking after 21 years and it was a good gift from God.”
Before that tournament, Turkey had only played at one other World Cup which was in 1954 when the team only won one game.
Expectations weren’t high for Turkey heading into the 2002 World Cup.
However, after that summer, Sukur and his teammates returned home as heroes.
He uses that tournament as a way to teach other people, especially children, to follow their dreams.
“I want to provide an avenue that can show my experiences through these soccer camps and show the value of being a team worker,” Sukur said. “These successes are not consistent. They have to be true to the whole team and be generated to every team member. My team members were very connected to their parents. They bonded with them. A strong bond with your parents will impact your success.”
