Senegal goes through

African side advances after thrilling 3-3 draw vs. Uruguay

Senegal's Papa Bouba Diop scores past Uruguay's Fabian Carini. AP

SUWON, South Korea (Reuters) -- Senegal reached the second round of the World Cup at their first attempt on Tuesday after a thrilling 3-3 draw against Uruguay that saw the South Americans fight back from 3-0 down at halftime.

"It's a victory for African football -- it's beautiful and it's a victory for the Senegalese people," captain Aliou Cisse said as the team looked ahead to a second-round clash with the winners of group F -- either Argentina, England or Sweden. (Dakar celebrates victory.)

Needing only a point to reach the knockout stage of the competition, the African side raced to a 3-0 lead with a dubious 20th-minute Khalilou Fadiga penalty and two goals from Pape Bouba Diop.

Uruguay, needing victory to stay in the tournament, came desperately close with goals for Richard Morales, Diego Forlan and an 88th minute penalty by Alvaro Recoba.

Morales then missed a glorious chance to put them in the second round when he headed wide of an empty net deep into injury time as the Senegalese hung on desperately.

Stat Summary Senegal     Uruguay  3  Goals  3  6  Shots  14  4  Shots on goal  6  23  Fouls  19  4  Corner kicks  7  1  Penalty kicks  1  5  Offsides  4  0  Own goals  0  7  Yellow cards  5  0  Red cards  0  45%  Ball possession  55%  23  Actual playing time  28     Attendance: 33,681     MATCH SUMMARY

Senegal's reward for a wonderful first round, which included a 1-0 victory over champions France and a 1-1 draw with Denmark, was second place in the group behind the Danes, who beat France 2-0 in a match played at the same time.

England, Sweden or Argentina, whose fate will be sealed in Wednesday's final group F matches, will stand between Senegal and the honor of becoming only the second African team to reach the quarterfinals after Cameroon in 1990.

"We played a great first half and I was very happy, but I wasn't so happy when they pulled one back so quickly," Senegal's French coach, Bruno Metsu, said, but he added:

"I'm really pleased to have made it to the last 16 and now we want to create a wonderful story for African football."

Twice winners

Uruguay, twice winners of the competition but appearing for the first time since 1990, are the first team to recover from 3-0 down since Portugal beat North Korea in the 1966 quarter-finals, but it will be little consolation.

A 2-1 defeat to Denmark and a goalless draw with 10-man France, when they missed a bagfull of chances, means that they failed to reach the second round for only the third time in 10 tournaments.

Coach Victor Pua said his players had been knocked off their stride by the contentious early penalty decision but added that the referee was not entirely to blame for their exit.

"We cannot forget that we played against three strong teams and we have learned a lot," he said.

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There was no indication of the fireworks to come in a cagey opening spell but the game exploded into life after 19 minutes when El Hadji Diouf seized on a mistimed Paolo Montero backpass.

The striker pushed it past Sebastian Carini and then went flying over the top of the sliding goalkeeper, who didn't appear to make any contact. The penalty was duly awarded though and Fadiga slammed in it.

Six minutes later Henri Camara galloped clear down the left before picking out Pape Bouba Diop who sidefooted into the roof of the net.

Bouba Diop scored his second and Senegal's third in the 38th minute when, with the Uruguayans appealing in vain for offside, he touched in another Camara cross via the bar.

Pua threw on Forlan and Morales for the second half, joining first half replacement Mario Regueiro in a blanket front line and the move paid immediate dividends when Morales scored from close range just 18 seconds after the restart.

The goal stung Uruguay into frenzied action with Recoba once again pulling the strings.

After a series of missed chances, they pulled another back 20 minutes from time when Forlan, without a goal all season at Manchester United, chested down a clearance and fired in a perfect dipping volley from 25 meters.

Carini kept Uruguay in it with a good save with his legs from El Hadji Diouf, Forlan then rolled one agonizingly wide 10 minutes from time before Recoba equalized from the spot after Morales went down theatrically under pressure from Habib Beye.

With Senegal camped deep in their own area and looking desperate, Uruguay sent a rain of long balls into the crowded box.

One fell to Gustavo Varela, whose goalbound shot was kept out by a Lamine Diatta diving header, and then Morales, seemingly disorientated after a goalmouth scramble, headed tamely wide of an open goal from five meters.

When the whistle eventually blew, the shattered South Americans dropped to their knees around the pitch knowing their World Cup was over.

In Senegal, people careened through the capital Dakar in battered old cars, celebrating fans hanging out the windows waving fists in the air and Senegal's red, green and yellow flag.

"It is a historic day for Senegal," said Metsu.

"It was engrossing, moving, difficult and it was a fantastic spectacle."

Uruguay's Forlan was grim after the loss.

"We're bitter," Forlan said. "One goal could have made the difference and we should have had it at the end. ... The team was doing all it could to change the outcome in the second half. The goal at the beginning of the second half gave us a lift."

Senegal, runners-up in this year's African Nations Cup final to Cameroon, are now able to dream of bigger things.

Cameroon and South Africa, while facing weightier opponents, are also in with a fighting chance of reaching the second round.

Cameroon play three times winners Germany in group E later on Tuesday. South Africa play Spain in group B on Wednesday.

Summary

Senegal 3 Uruguay 3 - result

World Cup, group A

Scorers:

Senegal - Khalilou Fadiga 20pen, Pape Bouba Diop 26, 38

Uruguay - Richard Morales 46, Diego Forlan 69, Alvaro Recoba 88pen

Yellow cards:

Senegal - Henri Camara 2, Omar Daf 4, Ferdinand Coly 39, Pape Bouba Diop 70, El Hadji Diouf 82, Khalilou Fadiga 87, Habib Beye 88

Uruguay - Marcelo Romero 8, Fabian Carini 19, Pablo Garcia 35, Dario Rodriguez 40, Paolo Montero 82

Halftime: 3-0; Attendance: 33,681

Teams:

Senegal (4-4-2): 1-Tony Sylva; 17-Ferdinand Coly (21-Habib Beye 63), 13-Lamine Diatta, 4-Pape Malick Diop, 2-Omar Daf; 6-Aliou Cisse, 10-Khalilou Fadiga, 19-Pape Bouba Diop, 5-Alassane Ndour (12-Amdy Faye 76); 11-El Hadji Diouf, 7-Henri Camara (14-Moussa Ndiaye 67)

Uruguay (4-3-1-2): 1-Fabian Carini; 14-Gonzalo Sorondo (17-Mario Requeiro 31), 3-Alejandro Lembo, 4-Paolo Montero, 6-Dario Rodriguez; 8-Gustavo Varela, 5-Pablo Garcia, 16-Marcelo Romero (21-Diego Forlan 46); 20-Alvaro Recoba; 9-Dario Silva, 13-Sebastian Abreu (18-Richard Morales 46)

Referee: Jan Wegereef (Netherlands)

Linesmen: Jaap Pool (Netherlands), Ferenc Szekely (Hungary)

 

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.