Senegal have opened their World Cup campaign with a 2-1 win over Poland, in a game decided by key defensive lapses for the Poles.
An own goal to Thiago Cionek, and a sloppy backwards pass by Grzegorz Krychowiak, gave the Lions of Teranga their goals.
While Krychowiak redeemed himself late with a header from a set piece, the Poles ran out of time to equalise.
It was an open, free-flowing first half for the most part, but both sides seemed content to keep most of their players behind the ball and make their attacks in quick bursts.
For the Poles, it was primarily through long balls in behind the back four. For the Senegalese, it was through marauding runs down the wing, testing the Polish full backs.
While it was fairly easy to watch, there weren’t a lot of opportunities for either side.
That was until the 37th minute, when Niang took won the ball strongly on the wing and drove forward, finding Sadio Mane in some rare space, who in turn passed to Idrissa Gueye just outside the box.
The Everton midfielder’s shot was off target, but it took a heavy deflection off Cionek and veered past the hapless Wojciech Szczesny.
That lead held to half time, and after the break the Poles began to commit themselves a bit more to attacking, pushing further into the Senegalese half.
But the game was more or less decided in the 60th minute by a series of unfortunate events for Poland.
Niang appeared to be coming off the ground for Senegal, but was sent back on by the fourth official. At that moment, Krychowiak played a lazy ball back toward defence that looped over his centre-half right at the moment Niang was jogging at pace into that part of the ground.
Niang swooped on it, easily outpaced the Polish defender, ran past the oncoming Szczesny and in for the easiest of finishes.
The Poles complained bitterly, but appeared to be the victims of nothing more than bad luck.
Poland pressed even further forward, looking for the chance to get back into the game. But with Kalidou Koulibaly closely marking Robert Lewandowski and Badou Ndiaye playing an inspired game in goal the Senegalese were able to hold them off.
That was until the 86th minute, when a set piece from an innocuous position was speared into the Senegalese area, and Krychowiak fired into the goal with his head having shed his marker in Moussa Wague.
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That left a nervous few minutes for Senegal, but with both sides tired the West Africans held on for the win.
This game was supposed to be about the main targets at either end, but both Lewandowski and Mane had quiet games, well defended by their opponents.
While the Senegalese played with speed and purpose, in truth it was Polish mistakes that decided the result.
This result leaves Group H in a fascinating position. Japan and Senegal both with 2-1 wins, with Poland next to meet Colombia in effectively a sudden death match. Poland will need at least a draw in that game and a victory against Japan to progress.
Senegal will take a lot of confidence from this win, and very much appear headed for the second round after not only an important victory, but a strong defensive performance against a powerful Polish attack.
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