Senegal continue to work their magic by a post's width

Sweden 1 Senegal 2 (Golden goal in extra time)

Some day soon we will have to believe their promise that an African nation's time to win the World Cup is nigh. They are getting closer and closer. With two goals here yesterday from Henri Camara, including the golden goal winner in extra time, Senegal accounted for Sweden to emulate Cameroon's 1990 feat of reaching the quarter-finals.

Officially, Camara was man-of-the-match, but, in El Hadji Diouf, Senegal possessed a player responsible for perhaps the outstanding individual display of the finals so far.

Sweden, sticking rigidly to their favoured 4-4-2 formation, elected not to man-mark him, which, in hindsight, may not have been the wisest decision. But they could not contain him, whichever flank took his fancy, with their defence on the verge of panic every time Diouf got the ball and ran at them.

Cameroon, according to one observer the other day, "seemed to have become westernised.'' The great hope is that Senegal do not go the same way. Much depends of course, on whether they will be able to hang on to their esteemed French coach, Bruno Metsu, who seems content to permit his players to carry on playing in their delightful flamboyant, loose-limbed manner with spontaneity very much the key word.

Metsu has recently received overtures from Gaziantepspor in Turkey. Ironically, the Turks could be lying in wait for his present side should they get the better of Japan tomorrow in Myagi. Senegal would prefer Turkey to Japan, the joint hosts, and if that happens it would mean the witch doctors back home are working well for them.

Their luck yesterday began with the news that Fredrik Ljungberg was still missing from an unchanged Swedish side, which almost had the encouragement of a third-minute goal. Anders Svensson, who was to be their best player, pushed a freekick to Olof Mellberg, whose cross-shot came off the outstretched legs of Senegal's goalkeeper, Tony Sylva.

Magnus Svensson then drove wastefully wide, a miss which did not seem to matter much in the 11th minute when Henrik Larsson ­ who announced his international retirement after the match ­ reached Anders Svensson's corner before Sylva to head Sweden in front.

Diouf had already had a penalty claim rejected when he crossed for Papa Bouba Diop to have an equaliser ruled out by a close offside decision. However Senegal did draw level when Camara expertly controlled a high ball on his chest and side-stepped Johan Mjallby to fire a low drive just inside Magnus Hedman's right­hand post.

After the break, the Africans continued to confirm on a blissfully hot afternoon that they were none the worse for being without two of their key players, Khalilou Fadiga and Salif Diao, both suspended. With the help of Lamine Diatta's fine tackle in the penalty area on Anders Svensson, who was then off-target with a volley, they survived Sweden's best spell and responded full of running after Diouf had taken his only breather.

The Swedes, badly lacking Ljungberg's capacity for artful runs into space, looked all the better for replacing Niclas Alexandersson with the Ajax forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is of Croatian parentage. They grew stronger as the game went into extra-time, an impression endorsed when the energetic Anders Svensson side-stepped a defender to thunder in a piledriver.

But life, like football, is full of injustices. Whereas Svensson's attempt came back off an upright, Senegal's next significant attack ended with Camara accepting Pape Thiaw's clever backheel and rolling a soft shot beyond Hedman which went in off a post for the golden goal.

With a slice more fortune like that and a little more wizardry from Diouf and Camara, Senegal could just find themselves in fantasy land by the end of next week. That is if they are not there already.