Ololade Adeyanju & NAN/
Senegal’s Teranga Lions restored the pride of African teams at the Russia 2018 World Cup, this evening, with a 2-1 defeat of Poland at the Spartak Stadium in Moscow, in their opening Group H match.
Four of Africa’s five teams at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, including Nigeria’s Super Eagles, have lost their opening matches.
But Senegal gave signs of making the difference by holding their own before the 44,190 crowd who were witnessing a match fought from end to end in the opening minutes.
The Poles did hold the advantage in possession though, but after a neat move in the 37th minute, Senegal opened scoring.
Idrissa Gueye’s shot was deflected in by Thiago Cionek to give the Lions a deserved lead.
Senegal knew what they needed to do thereafter, holding off Poland to take their advantage into the second half, when they tightened the back and still surged forward on the break.
Midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak was soon to make a costly error, playing a high, aimless back pass.
Striker M’Baye Niang controlled the ball ahead of an advancing goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny before tapping into an empty net.
Krychowiak however pulled a goal back in the 86th minute with a header from Kamil Grosicki’s free-kick but Senegal held on.
Poland are the group’s highest-ranked side at number eight, but they struggled to create further chances with a free-kick from captain Robert Lewandowski one of just four shots on target.
Senegal who are making only their second World Cup appearance now lead the group ahead of Japan, who beat Colombia 1-0 earlier on Tuesday.
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