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The 2018 FIFA World Cup continued on Tuesday, June 19 evening with African side Senegal surprising a weak Poland in a 2-1 win at the Spartak Stadium in Moscow.
In a poor first half both sides neutralised each other with the defensive lines staying compact while the attacking midfielders and strikers found limited space to create real chances. Poland had more of the ball, but Senegal looked for gaps. In one such attack in the 38th minute captain Sadio Mane found Idrissa Gueye and his rather weak shot was deflected by Thiago Cionek into his own teams goal past keeper Szczesny. Senegal went into the break 1-0 ahead.
Things didn’t change much after the break with only a Robert Lewandowski free-kick in the 51st minute causing some problems for keeper N’Diaye. At the other end on the hour mark, a failed back pass by Grzegorz Krychowiak was intercepted by M’Baye Niang and he scored again for Senegal to give them a 2-0 lead.
Poland did increase the pressure somewhat but only got a consolation goal in the 86th minute when Grzegorz Krychowiak scored off a Kamil Grosicki free-kick. In the end, Senegal scored a memorable 2-1 win, the first by an African nation at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 – Group H
Poland 1-2 (0-1) Senegal
Goals: 0-1 Thiago Cionek (37′ own Goal), 0-2 M’Baye Niang (60′), 1-2 Grzegorz Krychowiak (86′)
Poland: Szczesny – Piszczek (83′ Bereszynski), Cionek, Pazdan, Rybus – Krychowiak, Zielinski – Blaszczykowski (46′ Bednarek), Milik (73′ Kownacki), Grosicki – Lewandowski
Subs: Bialkowski, Fabianski, Glik, Jedrzejczyk, Goralski, Kurzawa, Linetty, Peszko, Teodorczyk
Senegal: K. N’Diaye – Wagué, S. Sané, Koulibaly, Sabaly – I. Gueye, A. N’Diaye (87′ Kouyaté) – Sarr, S. Mané – M. Diouf (62′ N’Doye), Niang (75′ Konaté)
Subs: Diallo, A. Gomis, Gassama, Kara Mbodji, Mbengue, Badou, Baldé, Sakho, Sow
Referee: Nawaf Abdulla Shukralla (Bahrain)
Man of the Match: M’Baye Niang (Senegal)
