Goal King Henri wins the day

Henri Camara's golden goal

Senegal's Henri Camara will forever be goal king Henri after his two goals, the second being the deciding golden goal, knocked out Sweden in their second round meeting at Oita Stadium in Japan.

Camara's first had drawn Senegal level in the first half after Henrik Larsson had opened the scoring for Sweden.

Senegal maintained possession well throughout the match and were led in the attack by El Hadji Diouf, who managed good creative work in the absence of the suspended Khalilou Fadiga. Sweden's Henrik Larsson had trouble finding chances without the help of the injured Fredrik Ljungberg.

Sweden started the brighter and a well-struck third minute shot from 25 yards from Tobias Linderoth tested early on.

A minute later and Sweden almost went ahead with a well-worked free kick. The ball was spread out right to Olof Mellberg in oceans of space. The defender bore down on goal unchallenged before hitting an accurate right-foot shot which was superbly saved by Tony Sylva's outstretched boot. Magnus Svensson put the rebound well wide from close in.

Senegal's responded well as Lamine Diatta sent Pape Thiaw clear with a clipped pass over the Swedish defence but the Strasbourg forward lifted his shot inches over the bar.

But the Scandinavians pressure paid off when a left wing corner in the 11th minute was headed in by Larsson.

El Hadji Diouf was close on two occasions to bring Senegal back level. First, he almost brought a penalty after a mazy run and then his left-foot shot was turned in by Papa Bouba Diop only to see the linesman raise the flag for offside.
Senegal surged forward in wave after wave of attack. The pressure finally paid off eight minutes before half-time when Diouf's flick on was chested down by Henri Camara and the midfielder turned and buried a right-foot shot into the corner of Magnus Hedman's goal.

Responding, Sweden almost snatched the lead back but Anders Svensson's accurate free-kick was well saved by Sylva diving to his left
Senegal probably didn't want half-time to come as they were playing so well. Sweden coming out strongly in the second half, much as they had done in the first.

The Europeans nearly pulled in front again as Allback headed down to Anders Svensson inside the box. The brilliant move came to nothing though as the midfielder's rocket of a volley sailed well wide of the post (57').
Senegal nearly hit back on their own as Omar Daf pulled back to Pape Thiaw, but the striker never quite got a good touch on the ball (59').

The Senegalese never quite found the blistering rhythm that defined their first half, but went close with a Diouf free kick from just outside the box (68').
And Sweden nearly went ahead yet again as Larsson laid the ball off to Andreas Andersson, but he could only rifle a wicked shot well over Sylva's crossbar (72').
In the final quarter hour it was Senegal that put on most of the heat, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic nearly grabbed the vital goal for Sweden as he cut into the box and only just failed to beat Sylva to his near post (80').

The finals first extra time period began with some early pressure from Senegal, as Thiaw fired a shot over early (92'). A quick volley of Swedish attacks proved mere prelude as Amdy Faye's rocket dangerously soared over Hedman's crossbar (93').
Sweden nearly sealed the deal as Larsson's beautiful chipped pass found Anders Svensson in the box. A quick turn and a good shot had Sylva beaten, but could only splatter against the post (95').

Diouf's brilliance nearly turned the match as he put the ball between Andreas Jakobsson's legs at the edge of the box and slipped in cleanly on goal. In the end, his hard left-footed drive slipped just wide of Hedman's post (98').
And the crucial goal came on the end of a stunning bit of genius from the Africans. A lovely back heel from Thiaw found Henri Camara, and after a quick cut, the striker fired his shot off the inside of Hedman's post to send an entire nation in ecstasy

It was a difficult start for Senegal with an early goal for Sweden. Sweden is a very strong team, who finished ahead of Argentina and England in the group. We were able to get the draw, and it must be hard for Sweden to lose in sudden death.

Afterwards coach Bruno Metsu said: "I'm very happy to have beaten this strong Sweden team. Sweden had gone 16 matches without a loss, and Senegal is happy to have beaten Sweden in the 17th match. "

"It was a tough and difficult match and both teams were desperate to win. Sweden didn't want to lose the match, they showed they wanted to go further as well."

"We obviously don't know if it is going to be Japan or Turkey , but we respect all the teams and will take it match by match."

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