Late Costa Rica goal earns draw

Group C
Costa Rica 1
Turkey 1

A second-half goal from Emre Belozoglu looked to have earned Turkey victory but a goalmouth melee left the ball bouncing invitingly for striker Parks who smacked it into the net from close range.

Costa Rica now have four points from two games, having beaten China 2-0 in their opening match, and they need a point against Brazil in their final game to reach the last 16.

"It is a bitter disappointment," said Turkish coach Senol Gunes. "We were playing to win but after the goal some of our players got tired and Costa Rica began to play more offensively and created more chances.

"We are here at the World Cup after 48 years. We scored our first goal against Brazil and got our first point against Costa Rica. We are confident of a win against China and we will wait for the right result to go through."

His Costa Rican opposite number Alexander Guimaraes said: "The big, big factor today was our character. We played very hard. We didn't think about our opponents and we played our own game," he said.

Brazil have won both their matches, beating China 4-0 on Saturday, and join Spain as the only two countries so far to have reached the last 16.

World Cup debutants China are now out of the 32-team tournament along with Saudi Arabia, Slovenia and Nigeria.

The late goal sparked a touchline confrontation between officials and players of both sides when Emre Belozoglu pushed over a Costa Rican official who he suspected of time-wasting. The Turkish scorer was booked.

Turkey had gone ahead after 56 minutes when midfielder Emre Belozoglu's first shot on the right side of the box was blocked by Gilberto Martinez but he managed to turn to find the net with his second effort.

Both teams have only reached the World Cup finals once before. They created few clear-cut chances before the goal.

Costa Rican midfielder Walter Centeno had the best chance of the first half when he found himself free on the right side of the box in the 33rd minute but he struck his shot over the bar.

The pace of the game appeared to pick up after the break. Turkey striker Hakan Sukur went close twice in the first three minutes of the half with a header and a shot.

Costa Rican forward Ronald Gomez also hit a fierce left-footed shot wide in the 51st minute as his side missed a series of good chances through over-elaboration in front of goal. Then came Parks's timely strike.

Costa Rica: Lonnis; Wallace (Bryce 77), Marin, Wright, Martinez, Castro; Lopez (Parks 77), Solis, Centeno (Medford 66); Wanchope, Gomez.

Turkey: Rustu; Fatih, Umit, Asik, Ergun; Davala, Tugay (Erdem 88), Basturk (Kahveci 79), Emre, Sas; Sukur (Mansiz 75).

Referee: Coffi Codjia (Benin).

Scorers: Parks 86; Emre 56.

Yellow cards: Martinez (CR), Castro (CR); Asik (T), Tugay (T), Emre (T).

HT: 0-0. Attendance: 42,299.