Denmark have kept their World Cup dreams alive with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Cameroon on Saturday evening in Pretoria.

The result sees the Africans eliminated from the competition following successive defeats and the Danes now face a crucial final group stage clash against Japan.

Cameroon started brightly as Benoit Assou-Ekotto saw his strike from the edge of the box deflected clear inside the first minute and Samuel Eto'o, playing in a central attacking position, screwed wide soon after.

Morten Olsen's side then had their first opportunity as winger Dennis Rommedahl fired over when he was played clean through at the angle and the Indomitable Lions opened the scoring just minutes later thanks to a defensive howler from Christian Poulsen.

The usually-reliable defensive midfielder played the ball straight to Pierre Webo and he threaded through for Eto'o to thump past Thomas Sorensen.

Achille Emana fired crisply wide and, at the other end, Jesper Gronkjaer saw his stinging drive headed behind by Alexandre Song.

With Denmark growing in confidence, they grabbed a deserved equaliser as Rommedahl got in behind Assou-Ekotto and squared for Nicklas Bendtner to slide home.

Just before the break, Song made a stunning block from Jon Dahl Tomasson and Eto'o then struck the post following a swift counter as the game opened up.

Stephane M'Bia watched as his header was saved by Sorensen at the start of the second-half and Eto'o continued to threaten with his trickery in the final third. But Denmark went in front for the first time as Rommedahl got his name on the score sheet.

The veteran got the better of Jean Makoun before firing a left-footed drive across goalkeeper Souleymanou Hamidou and into the far corner of the net.

Cameroon were stirred by their setback and Makoun should have made amends soon after, but he fired a fine Eto'o cut-back over the top and at the other end, Tomasson missed a golden cance by slotting his one-on-one chance straight at Souleymanou.

Sorensen then turned hero as he made a fantastic one-handed stop to deny Emana from levelling and youngster Vincent Aboubakar saw his strike deflected behind off Poulsen as Paul Le Guen's men continued to press.

But Denmark held on for the vital victory and their World Cup adventure goes on, but Cameroon become the first side to crash out.