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Turkey made it through to the second round Thursday by beating China 3:0 on goals by Hasan Sas, Bulent Korkmaz and Umit Davala, and taking second place in Group B over Costa Rica on goal difference. In a high-energy match the Turks, knowing it was goals that mattered opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Sas capitalized on a defensive misunderstanding and shot over the head of goalkeeper Jiang Jin.
Three minutes later Sas sent in a cross from the left, which Korkmaz connected to, putting it over Jian into the top right corner, after out jumping his cover. China responded fiercely and were unlucky when Yang Chen's drive in the 28th ricocheted off the post as both teams settled down into an evenly balanced half.
The second half opened with Turkey applying pressure and Sas saw a drive in the 50th minute saved by a diving Jiang. China were reduced to ten men nine minutes later when Shap Jiayi was sent off for his second offense in tackling Emre Belozoglu from behind.
Sas, definitely the Turkish playmaker, set up the third and final goal for the Turks when his cross from the left reached Davala who shot in off the post. Turkey now face the winner of Group H on June 18.
(Chris Price, chris@chosun.com )
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