Pele sad at Nigeria's exit;

...happy with Senegal poise

DAEGU, South Korea --African great Abedi Pele expressed his sadness on Saturday after Nigeria were buried in the World Cup's 'Group of Death' after losing 2-1 to Sweden.

The Nigerians, beaten 1-0 by Argentina in their opening game, played some superb football in their defeat against Sweden.

"I am very sad today as Nigeria played very well," said Ghana's Pele, who won a European Cup and three French league titles with Marseille in France.

"They played very badly at the African Nations Cup and a lot of African people were surprised with their showing here. It is terrible that they played so well yet are going home.

"They did not lose miserably. They showed great fighting spirit and were unlucky not to grab an equaliser in the last minute when the ball came back off the post. It is sad they are out but, despite that, I think they proved themselves as one of the greats of African football."

Pele, a FIFA technical delegate at the World Cup, is tipping Senegal to fly Africa's flag high in the remainder of the tournament.

He rates the goal by Liverpool-bound Salif Diao against Denmark on Thursday as the best goal of the World Cup so far and reckons there are more spectacular strikes to come from the Sengalese.

"It was such a wonderful goal, it had everything," said Pele.