In a dramatic match at the Paradise Arena in Victoria on Thursday, Senegal defeated Italy 4-3 in extra time at the last second to advance to the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, Seychelles 2025 semi-finals.

Senegal will play Belarus in the round of four on Saturday in an attempt to make it to the global showcase tournament final for the first time.

Their greatest result to date was fourth place in 2021.

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Their matchup with Italy was a seesaw battle that went back and forth.

Senegal took the lead thanks to Mamour Diagne, but Italy took the lead in the second half with to goals from Tommaso FazzinI, Emmanuele Zurlo, and Camillo Marchesi.

Senegal was behind 2-3 going into the final quarter, but a goal by Sanou Laye Thiaw kept them in the game.

When Ousseynou Faye equalised, the game went into extra time. Diagne scored his second goal with two seconds remaining before penalties, sending Senegal to the semi-finals and igniting celebrations.

The Paradise Arena crowd supported the African team and applauded each goal as though it had been scored by the hosts, the Seychelles.

Ihar Bryshtsel scored two goals as Belarus defeated Iran 4-3 to secure their spot in the semi-finals.

They will pose a serious threat to the Senegalese. In one of the all-time great FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup matches, Portugal narrowly defeated Japan 7-6.

Portugal took a six-goal lead in the match, but Japan equalised on the first five occasions. They ran out of time on the sixth.

Following Brazil’s 6-0 thumping of Spain, Portugal will play the reigning champions in the semi-finals.