Mane vs. Lewandowski: star power for Senegal, Poland
MOSCOW — Senegal forward Sadio Mane and Poland captain Robert Lewandowski starred for their clubs. Now they’ll have a chance to come through for their countries when they meet in soccer’s World Cup on Tuesday night.
Some players win titles for both, such as Cristiano Ronaldo. Others struggle to lead their national teams to the top, such as Lionel Messi.
“Sadio has something absolutely unique, because he’s unpredictable,” Senegal coach Aliou Cisse said Monday through an interpreter. “Nobody is really able to mark him or to stop him. He’s really great. At any point he can make the difference with a dribble, with a pass, whatever.”
Now 26, Mane made his professional debut with Metz in 2012, moved to Red Bull Salzburg later that year and to Southampton in ’14. He had the fastest hat trick in Premier League history when he got three goals in a 176-second span against Aston Villa in May ’15, and he transferred to Liverpool in June ’16. Mane became one of the league’s top players, scoring 13 Premier League goals in his first season, then getting 10 in the league and 10 more in the Champions League in ’17-18.
He has 14 goals in 49 games for Senegal, back in the World Cup for the time since its debut in ’02.
Lewandowski, who turns 30 in August, started his professional career with Znicz Pruszkow in ’06, moved to Lech Poznan two years later and to Borussia Dortmund in ’10.
After scoring 103 goals in 187 matches for Dortmund, the striker signed with Bayern Munich and has won four straight Bundesliga titles while scoring 106 goals in 126 games — 151 in 195 in all competitions.
For Poland, Lewandowski has 55 goals in 95 international appearances, including a European-leading 16 in 2018 World Cup qualifying, one more than Ronaldo scored for Portugal.
“I believe that scale if the size of talent of Lewandowski is immense, supported by a lot of work,” Poland coach Adam Nawalka said through an interpreter. “I believe that Robert Lewandowski could set an example to other players how to run a career.”
A winner of the first matchup between the nations would have a good chance to advance from a group that includes Colombia and Japan.
Under Nawalka, who played for his nation at the 1982 World Cup, Poland has risen from 76th in the FIFA rankings in 2013 to eighth.
Poland finished third in the 1974 World Cup with Grzegorz Lato and in ’82 with Zbigniew Boniek. It was knocked out in the round of 16 in ’86, then didn’t qualify until 2002, when it lost its first two games and already was eliminated before beating the
U.S. in its group stage finale. The Poles lost their first two games Sadio Mane controls the ball in a March friendly with Bosnia.
again in ’06 before a meaningless match against Costa Rica and hadn’t been back since.
Senegal, a former French colony that gained independence in 1960, debuted in the World Cup with a shocking victory: 1-0 over defending champion France in the 2002 opener. The West African nation advanced to the quarter-finals before a 1-0 extra time loss to Turkey.
After upsetting France in Seoul, South Korea, on a goal by Papa Bouba Diop, thousands of people danced in the streets of Dakar after the 1:30 a.m. final whistle and President Abdoulaye Wade declared a national holiday.
“The dreams that we had when we are kids that is becoming true,” current captain Cheikhou Kouyate said. “So we’ll have to enjoy and give this joy as well to the Senegalese people.”
Poland has won only one of its seven previous World Cup openers, 3-2 over Argentina in ’74, and hasn’t advanced past the first round since ’86.
“We’re ready as we are seated here,” said midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski.