Senegal edges Poland to give Africa its first victory

MOSCOW — Pelewasunparalleled as a soccer player. But as a prognosticator? Not so much.

In fact, the three-time World Cup champion’s forecasts have been so laughably wrong, former Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari once advised, “If you want to win a title, you have to listen to Pele and then do the opposite.”

But there was one prediction Pele made that seemed so solid no one begged to differ. An African team, he said, soon would win the World Cup.

Nearly three decades later, we’re still waiting to find out which one.

Africa is off to another dismal start in this World Cup, with its first four teams to play losing before Senegal broke that streak Tuesday with a 2-1 win over Poland at Spartak Stadium.

And Senegal wasn’t the only country celebrating.

“Senegal today represents the whole of the African continent,” coach Aliou Cisse said through a translator. “I get phone calls from everywhere.

“We’re also proud to represent Africa.”

Cisse, too, thought Africa would be further along by now. He was captain of the Senegalese team that stunned defending champion France and advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2002 tournament. No African team has gone further. On Senegal’s first goal Tuesday, Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye’s shot from just outside the penalty area appeared headed directly into the gloved handed of Polish keeper Wojciech Szczesny when it struck the leg of defender Thiago Cionek and caromed into the net for a firsthalf own goal.

The second goal was even more quirky.

During a stoppage in play to allow trainers to help forward M’baye Niang off the field, Senegal signaled that Cheikh N’doye would be coming on to replace his injured teammate. But as the substitution was being announced on the scoreboard, Niang protested, insisting he could continue.

The timing proved fortuitous because just as center referee Nawaf Shukralla waved Niang back on, Poland’s Grzegorz Krychowiak put his foot into a long back pass that N’doye, sprinting off the sidelines, dashed after. Poland’s Jan Bednarek, who had no idea Niang had left the sideline, was pushed off the ball, and when Szczesny was late in arriving to help, N’doye wound up with an easy tap-in for the goal.