With both sides having lost their opening Group E games, Denmark and Cameroon each knew they needed to get something out of last night's clash in Pretoria.

It was Cameroon who made the first breakthrough, captain Samuel Eto'o putting his side ahead in the 10th minute following a mistake by Christian Poulsen, but Denmark bounced back to take the victory thanks to goals in either half by Nicklas Bendtner and Dennis Rommedahl.

However, Denmark rode their luck on occasion as Cameroon pushed forward at every opportunity in a bid to avoid becoming the first team to be knocked out of the tournament, while at the other side Morten Olsen's side missed a couple of great chances to wrap the game up in the second half.

Agger, who was named man of the match, admitted it was far from the perfect display from Denmark but pointed out that getting the win was the main thing.

In a frank and honest assessment of his side's showing, Agger said: "Particularly in the first half, it was one of the worst performances we've given in a long time, our transitions were poor, we didn't cover well.

"If they'd been a bit more clinical they would have scored more goals and we would have been out of it in the first half, but to our credit we do fight.

"We tried to stand together and we scored two goals. We had other opportunities as well, but sometimes it became a bit of a kick-and-rush game, going up and down and up and down, and that's not really the way we want to play.

"But we've got three points, that's the most positive thing I can say."

Echoing the thoughts of his coach, who was not overly impressed by his team's display either, the Liverpool centre-back added: "We know it was a really bad game, especially in the first half, we didn't play like a team.

"We didn't play like we have to if we want to progress. Clearly it wasn't good enough but if you can still win playing like that it's a positive.

"We are a team, we stand together as a team, and to our credit we did comeback in the match. It didn't look too good at one point, but the positive thing is that we did fight back."

Goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen added: "It was disappointing but I always felt we were in the game.

"It was a brave fight in the end as we were under a bit of pressure, so overall a great win. Maybe not the prettiest game a Danish football team has ever played but I thought it was effective and that's what we needed, we needed a win."

Denmark now face a winner-takes-all clash with Japan in Rustenburg on Thursday.

With group leaders Holland already through and Cameroon now out, it is between Denmark and Japan for the second qualifying berth.

Both teams are on three points but Japan currently hold the advantage due to their superior goal difference.

If Denmark had taken advantage of one of their chances late on against Cameroon they would be the team sitting in second spot and only needing a draw, but coach Olsen admits they were not thinking about that during the game.

"We just wanted to win this match. We had the opportunity to get the third goal but we only wanted to win, we didn't think about that during the match," Olsen said.