Lions of Teranga roaring proudly
Senegal pull off great win to hand Poland a setback
SENEGAL became the first African team to win a match at the 2018 World Cup yesterday when they beat Poland 2-1, helped by two shocking errors in the European side’s defence.
Poland defender Thiago Cionek stuck out a leg and deflected Idrissa Gueye’s wayward shot into the net in the 37th minute before goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny rushed recklessly out of his area and allowed Mbaye Niang to nip in and score into an empty net on the hour.
Szczesny may have been caught out because Niang was having treatment on the touchline and re-entered the pitch as the ball was played backwards to goalkeeper by Grzegorz Krychowiak.
Krychowiak headed Poland’s goal in the 86th minute.
The win took Senegal top of Group H with three points, along with Japan who also beat Colombia by the same score. Colombia and Poland are both without a point.
Poland’s record scorer Robert Lewandowski got little change out of a well-drilled Senegal defence, led by Kalidou Koulibaly, and they sorely missed key defender Kamil Glik, still recovering from a training injury sustained two weeks ago.
“I’m satisfied with my players, really proud of them. I think they arrived with a lot of determination, they have worked hard,” said Senegal coach Aliou Cisse.
The first half hour was a sorry affair strewn with misplaced passes from both sides and neither of the danger men, Lewandowski and Senegal’s Sadio Mane, saw much of the ball. The first shot on target produced the first goal as Senegal went ahead in the 37th minute.
Niang won a challenge with Lukasz Piszczek, burst down the left and found Mane who in turn slipped the ball to Gueye.
The midfielder’s shot appeared to be going wide until the hapless Cionek stuck out a leg and deflected it past Szczesny. Krychowiak partially made amends with his 86th minute goal .
● Yuya Osako exacted sweet revenge for Japan as the Blue Samurai beat Colombia 2-1, becoming the first Asian side ever to beat a South American team at the World Cup.
Osako’s 73rd-minute winner meant the Japanese avenged their 4-1 mauling in the group stages of Brazil 2014 as Colombia played with a man down for 86 minutes after Colombia defender Carlos Sanchez earned the first red card of Russia 2018 with a handball after just four minutes.
Japan took a shock lead when Shinji Kagawa netted the resulting penalty before Juan Quintero equalised with a free-kick for Colombia to make it 1-1 at half-time.
Brazil 2014 topscorer James Rodriguez came on for the last halfhour after labouring in training with a calf strain but could not pull his side level after Osako’s 73rdminute goal.
● At Saint Petersburg Stadium, Russia struck three quick second half goals before Egypt’s Mohamed Salah scored a consolation as the match ended 3-1. The hosts opened their account through an own goal by Ahmed Fathi, with other goals coming from Denis Cheryshev and Artem Dzyuba. — Reuters with additional reporting by AFP