Some World Cups are hard-pressed to give us one fairytale, but on Saturday we came within a whisker of getting two within a matter of hours as first South Korea and then Senegal attempted to become the first teams from their respective continents to make it to the semi-finals.

That the Asians made it while the Africans finally fell by the wayside had, in the end, to do with a good deal more that the national hysteria that has spurred the co-hosts on.

Against Spain Guus Hiddink's side continued to show a resilience that few would have credited them with during their somewhat erratic build-up. Bruno Metsu's Senegal, meanwhile, simply ran out of luck against a Turkish side that, while worthy winners of this game thanks to a 94th-minute golden goal from Ilhan Mansiz, will still have to play much better on Wednesday if they are not to provide easy pickings for Brazil.

Hiddink's success with the Koreans has been down to a mixture of his ability to improve his team tactically and his players technically as well as their capacity to keep going at a frantic pace even after they have long since run their opponents into the ground.

Metsu's, on the other hand, is a little harder to pin down, although he has clearly achieved a rapport with his players that enabled him to extract some wonderfully passionate performances. The Senegalese FA may have hired the Frenchman hoping he would win the national team over to European ways but the 47-year-old has since married a Senegalese woman and converted to Islam, so it seems the reverse has been the case.

Over the past few weeks his has certainly been an African side retaining many of the flaws stereotypically associated with the continent's teams in the past. But despite that Senegal played with far more enterprise than Cameroon, Nigeria or South Africa ever managed and, even as they went out, they generated much greater excitement.

To a large extent, though, that was because they had a defence who for most of this game kept the Turks at bay only by the seat of their pants. They were fortunate, for instance, that Hakan Sukur's finishing was abysmal and that something strange also seemed to affect his team-mates, even the otherwise excellent Hasan Sas, whenever they were presented with a chance.

And while there were occasional moments of brilliance from the African centre backs - Omar Daf's lunge to turn what looked a certain goal for Yildiray Basturk around the post just before half-time stands out - at other times, from very promising situations, Turkey failed even to force the Senegalese goalkeeper Tony Sylva into making a save.

By the end, indeed, the Africans had had as many shots on target - just two - as Senol Gunes's Turkey. The tally of corners - seven against one in favour of the Europeans - was a far more accurate reflection of the pattern of a game that the Turks dominated in midfield.

Yet the Senegalese might have gone ahead though had El Hadji Diouf possessed the finish to match his obvious talent for running at defenders with the ball at his feet. More than once the young striker came close to grabbing a goal against the run of play, but most of the time it was the team's outstanding Auxerre midfielder Khalilou Fadiga who created openings.

The 27-year-old started the game as a left wing back but gradually pushed forward to add weight to the attack. He succeeded, but behind him Daf, who moved over to fill the gap, didn't do nearly so well at containing the quick and inventive Umit Davala on the Turkish wing.

It was Davala who set up the goal: he sprinted down the flank before crossing for Mansiz, Sukur's second-half replacement, who stole a yard on Lamine Diatta before finishing well with an angled first-time strike that left Sylva almost motionless.

Metsu expressed satisfaction with all his side had achieved in the tournament. "I'm proud that a small country like Senegal could come here and rock the boat of world football," he remarked with considerable dignity, adding that their objective would be to win the Africans Nations Cup.

Gunes cautioned us afterwards against assuming they would lose on Wednesday. After all that has happened already in this weird and wonderful World Cup, he really needn't have bothered.

SUBSTITUTES

Turkey: Mansiz for Sukur (67 mins), Erdem for Belezoglu (91 mins).

Senegal: none.

YELLOW CARDS

Turkey: Belozoglu (22 min), Mansiz (87 min).

Senegal: Daf (12 min), Cisse (63 min).