10 Greatest World Cup Underdog Stories
3. Turkey (2002)
Between South Korea, Senegal, and Turkey, the 2002 World Cup was filled with underdog stories. Turkey's was perhaps the most impressive, with the squad making it all the way to the semi-finals and just narrowly missing out on a spot in the final after a 1-0 defeat to eventual champions Brazil, despite only appearing in their third ever World Cup.
Turkey and Brazil had met earlier in the competition in Group C, which also featured China and Costa Rica. Again, Turkey lost narrowly to the Brazilians in their opening game, but went on to record a good draw against Costa Rica and a solid 3-0 win against China to claim the second spot in the group.
Turkey's most memorable game of the tournament was the third-place playoff against South Korea, in which Hakan Şükür opened the scoring after just 10.8 seconds. His record for the fastest World Cup goal still stands to this day. South Korea quickly equalised but Turkey were 3-1 up by half-time and won the game 3-2 in the end to earn their best ever World Cup finish.