Brazil gets knocked out of competition after draw

How mighty Brazil has fallen.

In a major upset, the five-time world champion was knocked out of the Confederations Cup in the first round after a 2-2 draw Monday against Turkey, which advanced to the semifinals of the eight-nation tournament.

The embarrassing departure upset coach Carlos Albert Parreira's efforts to prepare a side for Brazil's 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign which begins in three months' time.

Brazil a makeshift squad to this tournament, its first official competition since winning its record fifth World Cup trophy last year.

It was missing such standout players as Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos as well as some homegrown talent still involved in club competitions.

Turkey second spot in group B on four points and advanced to the semifinals with group winner Cameroon.

Brazil, which lost 1-0 to Cameroon and beat the US by the same margin in earlier group games, finished the first round in third place on four points but with a worse goal difference than the Turks.

Brazil more goals Monday than it had in its previous two games.

But its downfall was the failure to translate first-half possession into goals, a problem which has dogged all its games here.

After 23 minutes of probing, Adriano picked up a long goalkick from Dida. The muscular Parma of Italy striker charged through the defense and chipped over Rustu Recber to open the scoring with his second goal of the tournament.

Brazil's passing game gathered pace, helped by Turkey's defensive errors, but the score was unchanged at halftime. It proved Brazil's downfall.

Turkey, which needed just a draw to advance, turned the tables in the second half when Brazil suddenly was on the ropes.

Gokdeniz Karadeniz equalized in the 53rd minute when Turkey upped the pace. The Trabzonspor midfielder ran onto a pass behind the flat Brazilian defense and tapped the ball with the outside of his right foot over stranded goalie Dida.

A fast break from the halfway line 10 minutes from the end by Yildiray Basturk brought a goal for Okan Yilmaz who tapped the ball past Dida from short range.

"In the first half Brazil was far superior and we could have won it then. The second half became difficult after Turkey's goal," Parreira said.

"We have players who are at the end of a long season [in Europe] and who are unused to playing together," Parreira said.