World Cup one-hit wonders: Ilhan Mansiz, the man who briefly set the world alight

Sometimes a surprise package should not be so much of a shock. Few anticipated Turkey would finish third in the 2002 World Cup. Indeed, few expected two of the pre-tournament favourites, France and Argentina, to crash out in the group stages and create a void Turkey helped fill.

They appeared unlikely candidates to progress. They had lost 8-0 twice to England in the 1980s. This was their first World Cup for 48 years. Yet Turkey had been quarter-finalists in Euro 2000, a month after many of their players helped Galatasaray win the Uefa Cup. The following season, many of them reached the last eight of the Champions League. In 2001-02, four of their players had represented the Milan giants. Yildiray Basturk helped Bayer Leverkusen become Champions League finalists.

They had plenty of pedigree. Sixteen years on, the list of the most capped Turks is dominated by the class of 2002. Ilhan Mansiz is not among them. He won only 21 caps. His international career began in 2001 and ended in 2003; in 2002, however, he was hugely influential.

Born in West Germany and briefly a Germany Under-19 international before switching allegiances, he had only won six caps before the World Cup; only goalkeeper Zafer Ozgultekin had fewer in Senol Gunes’ squad. But he had scored 21 league goals for Besiktas the previous season – he never got more than 12 in a top-flight campaign before or afterwards – and was an in-form attacker, timing his surge into the squad perfectly.

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Gunes’ tactics revolved around using the captain Hakan Sukur as a lone striker. Mansiz represented Plan B. If he was the designated super-sub, he did not quite start out that way: he came on at 1-1 against Brazil, and Turkey, who then had two players sent off amid some playacting from Rivaldo, lost 2-1. He was introduced when they were 1-0 up against Costa Rica and they drew 1-1. At least his third cameo was happier: Turkey extended a 2-0 lead against China to 3-0 to book their spot in the last 16.

Turkey then turned party-poopers, eliminating hosts Japan. The perennial substitute Mansiz came on for Sukur in the 90th minute. Turkey were in uncharted territory. So were Senegal, their next opponents and the conquerors of France. Once again, it seemed as though Turkey’s opponents had captured the imagination. Once again, Turkey progressed.

One of the duller World Cup quarter-finals went to extra time before it was illuminated by a moment of brilliance. Mansiz swept in Umit Davala’s cross with a clinical half-volley; a long-haired figure set off on a celebratory sprint away from his team-mates before being buried underneath them. In the age of Golden Goals, there was no opportunity for Senegal to strike back. It was, and remains, “the most remarkable goal in Turkish history,” as Mansiz later told the Guardian.

The impact substitute could have been the impact starter. “I was always on the bench even though I was in better shape than Hakan Sukur, and we were always trying to explain to the coach to play with two forwards but he was afraid of it,” he said in the same interview.

So he had a watching brief for the start of a semi-final reunion with Brazil. Ronaldo scored a wonderful goal, Mansiz came off the bench, displayed one of the tournament’s most audacious bits of skill with an impudent backheel flick to fool Roberto Carlos, and missed a 92nd-minute chance to equalise. Instead, it set up a third-place match with co-hosts South Korea.

“A fun match,” predicted Mansiz. It was for him. Finally allowed to start, he scored twice, both after combining well with Sukur. He had only begun one game in the World Cup. Only four players scored more goals in it.

It threatened to be the start of something. Instead, it was the beginning of the end. He bounced around between Turkey, Germany and Japan, suffering a series of injuries. His career was finished when he was hit by a car at a pedestrian crossing, smashing his knee.

And then life took an unlikely turn. He appeared on Turkey’s version of Dancing On Ice, formed a relationship with his dance partner Olga Bestandigova and tried to become the first man to compete in the World Cup and the Winter Olympics. Suffice to say, he did not come close; they finished a distant last in the qualifying event for the 2014 Sochi games.

Now Mansiz’s attentions have switched to a different sport. He claimed he rejected an invitation to become Slaven Bilic’s assistant manager at Besiktas. Golf appears to take up more of his time than football now. But with Turkey failing to qualify for the last four World Cups, his status as the man who scored Turkey’s greatest goal seems safe for years to come.