Poland 1-2 Senegal, Group H, World Cup 2018 Russia: report

Poland vs Senegal: Group H Match Report

It really was a tale of two halves. Senegal came out all guns blazing in the first half and were far the better side, showing great confidence and dynamism going forward. However they seemed to be lacking the killer instinct to finish off anything they had worked well to create.

That was until the 38th minute, when Niang – who was Senegal’s standout player in the game – used his strength to win a 50-50 ball against Piszczek around the center of the pitch. He dribbled forward squaring a ball to Sane, who then squared it to Gueye around 25 yards out. His shot was on target but it took a wicked deflection off Polish defender Cionek, leaving the keeper helpless as the ball drifted past him into the bottom right corner.

Poland a different team in the second half

After being merely spectators in the first half, Poland came out with much more intent in the second and it looked like a goal was imminent. But all their hard work in offence was completely undone after an atrocious error in defense in the 61st minute that lead to Senegal’s second goal. From the center of the pitch, Krychowiak launched an unexplainable back pass in the air towards the unsuspecting keeper Szczesny, who was now in a 50-50 chase for the ball with Niang. The Senegalese striker was first to it. He rounded Szczesny easily to tap it in, putting the game further out of the reach of Poland.

But Poland continued to dominate the second half and finally got their just award in the 86th minute, when a great free kick into the box from 40 yards out found the head of Krychowiak on the left, who put a lovely looping header over the keeper and into the right hand corner to make it 2-1.

But that’s how it finished, and despite being gifted two goals, Senegal were deserved winners, after having bossed the first half, and – apart from the goal -- dealing with everything Poland could throw at them in the second half. With Japan next, Senegal will fancy themselves now for a first-place finish after having overcome their biggest obstacle in Poland.

Poland vs Senegal: live coverage, World Cup Group H match

Poland vs Senegal: preview

Poland and Senegal make their debuts in the World Cup with an aroma of expected goals around the Spartak Stadium in Moscow; both sides had great qualifying campaigns and now in the final tournament are expecting great things from their hitmen Lewandowski and Mané, both playing in their first World Cup. And both teams will fancy their chances of finishing top of Group H, which also includes Japan and Colombia, who played earlier today.

Goal machine Poland

Ranked eighth in the world, Poland travel to Russia after an impressive qualifying campaign in which they won 8 of their 10 fixtures, scoring an average of 2.8 goals per game. Between them Kamil Grosicki and Robert Lewandonski have scored 50% of the goals under coach Adam Nawalka. They will be Poland’s biggest threat, along with Lewandonski’s strike partner, 24-year-old Arkadiusz Milik, who returned strongly for Napoli in January after recovering from a second cruciate ligament injury.

Poland did however concede a lot of goals in qualifying and had the worst defensive record of all the European qualifying group winners. They will have to fill those defensive cracks if they are to keep out Senegal’s most potent weapon, Sadio Mané, who scored 20 goals and made 8 assists for Liverpool last season. The Polish defence will also have to keep an eye on another man who plies his trade on Merseyside, Everton’s Idrissa Gana Gueye in midfield. These two alone have the potential to cause an upset for Poland, but Nawalka’s men will be expecting to take all three points in their opening fixture.