Daegu, South Korea ? The Turks have already beaten one co-host of this World Cup. They weren’t about to be daunted by the passionate fans cheering wildly for the other in today’s third-place game against South Korea.

Senol Gunes said if his Turkish lineup ignored the language and focused only upon the red-clad fans in the stands, then it might as well be a home game. Both nations have red as the predominant national color.

	When: 6 a.m. today.Where: Daegu, South Korea.TV: Cable channel 72.

Besides, win, lose or draw against the Koreans, the Turkish team will head home as heroes.

“We wanted to give hope and happiness to our people and we managed that,” Gunes said Friday.

“We wanted to be the masters of the football field and we did that. The players will understand when they get back to Turkey how big a job they’ve done in this World Cup.”

Turkey lost two games, both to Brazil, in the first round and in the semifinal.

Turkish players were “very sad to lose against Brazil twice, but the sadness lasted for only one day. We have new targets ahead of us,” Gunes said.

Turkey was one of the biggest surprises of the tournament, along with South Korea. The Turks reached the semifinals in their first World Cup since 1954, when they were eliminated in the first round.

In Wednesday’s semifinal, the Brazilians won on Ronaldo’s goal in the 49th minute. That set up a Brazil vs. Germany championship match Sunday in Yokohama and put Turkey into a No. 3 vs. No. 4 game.

The South Koreans had a more spectacular run at the title after coming into the tournament winless in five previous trips. A 1-0 semifinal loss to the Germans was the only blemish.