Senegal register first African win

MOSCOW (AP):

Senegal midfielder Mbaye Niang saw the signal from the referee to re-enter following treatment for an injury and jogged along the centre line. Then Niang noticed Poland's Grzegorz Krychowiak loft a back pass to Jan Bednarek, who hadn't realised Niang was back on the field.

Niang outsprinted goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny to reach the ball about 40 yards from the net, knocked the ball forward and tapped it in for Senegal's second fluky goal of the night. The Lions of Teranga held on for a 2-1 win over Poland and opened the World Cup with a surprising victory just like in 2002.

"You have to deserve your luck," Niang said. "We were rewarded today for our work. You have to seize your chances when they are given to you."

Senegal became the first African team to win at this year's World Cup after Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia were outscored 6-1 in losses.

They went ahead in the 37th minute when Thiago Cionek's attempted block of Idrissa Gueye's shot deflected and wrong-footed Szczesny, who was picked to start over fellow Arsenal castoff Lukasz Fabianski.

After Niang doubled the lead in the 60th, Krychowiak headed in Kamil Grosicki's free kick in the 86th minute, ending a streak of five straight scoreless openers for Poland.

"Two goals following our mistakes was something that we were very unhappy with," Poland coach Adam Nawalka said.

Senegal are tied for the group lead with Japan, who upset Colombia 2-1. Senegal will play Japan on Sunday, when Poland meet Colombia.

"We are not too euphoric because we do know there is going to be a difficult match against Japan," Senegal coach Aliou Cisse said.

Senegal President Macky Sall was in the stands to watch the world's 27th-ranked team upset the eighth-ranked nation and bring up memories of the 1-0 win over defending champions France 16 years ago.