Senegal beat Poland 2-1

MOSCOW: Senegal recorded the first African win at the 2018 World Cup when they beat Poland 2-1 on Tuesday thanks to a deflected Thiago Cionek own goal and a terrible error by Polish ´keeper Wojciech Szczesny.

West Bromwich Albion midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak got Poland back in the game with an 86th-minute header but Senegal hung on at Moscow´s Spartak Stadium.

In a match billed as a straight fight between super-strikers Robert Lewandowski and Sadio Mane, neither scored but Liverpool striker Mane set up Idrissa Gueye for the shot that took a wicked deflection off Cionek, leaving Szczesny totally wrong-footed in the Polish goal for Senegal´s opener on 37 minutes.

The goal sparked wild celebrations among the Senegalese players and incredulity among Poland´s. After a tight first half hour, it was the always-threatening Niang who was at the heart of Senegal´s opening goal.

The Torino winger won the ball on the halfway line and fed Mane who rolled it sideways to Everton striker Gueye, whose shot skewed off Cionek´s leg and into the net. – AFP

Monitoring report adds: A sparkling second-half performance ensured that Russia is virtually guaranteed to qualify for the knock-out rounds for the first time in its modern history, following a 3-1 victory over a poor Egypt.

Flying winger Denis Cheryshev, who began the tournament on the bench, took a share of the Golden Boot race with his third goal, while Russia has 8 goals after just two games, after failing to win any of its seven warm-up matches before the home tournament.

Swapping out dynamic but underperforming striker Fedor Smolov from its starting line-up for towering Artem Dzyuba, Russia looked to exploit Egypt’s vulnerability to crosses, evident in its opening-game defeat against Uruguay. The midfielders diligently looked for the target man from all over the pitch, but deliveries lacked quality, and Dzyuba, who also came on to score in Russia’s rout of Saudi Arabia, was tightly marked.

For Egypt, star man Mohamed Salah, playing his first game after a month of injury, appeared tentative, and unwilling to embark on his devastating runs towards goal, though the Liverpool attacker still looked like the Pharaohs’ most dangerous outlet, with a shot that whistled past the post.