Fifa World Cup 2018: A match of errors as Senegal defeat Poland, FT 2-1

Poland vs Senegal: Sadio Mane's men take home three crucial points in Group H

Full-time analysis: With the first round of group stages coming to a close at Fifa World Cup 2018, Group H has seen some dramatic changes in the leaderboard. Japan defeated its more-fancied opponent Colombia, while Senegal beat Poland, shaking the expert's favourites list. 

They’re the first African team out of the five playing in the tournament to win at this summer’s World Cup.

Poland's loss can be credited to their defensive errors. In the 37th minute, a low drive shot from Idrissa Gueye deflected off Thiago Cionek's shin to give Mane's men lead in the game. Wojciech Szczęsny was hopelessly wrong-footed for the deflection. This was the first error in error-prone Poland's game on Tuesday. 

Poland's second tomfoolery came in the 57th minute. Gregorz Krychowiak clipped a ball from 50 yards for the keeper. The ball landed in no man's land with a clear advantage to M’Baye Niang, who with neat chip gained a full access to the exposed goal. 

Krychowiak pulled back for Poland scoring a goal with a header and compensated for his villainy, but it wasn’t enough. 

Apart from these errors, Poland were highly ineffective in the midfield. Senegal thoroughly exploited the wings to take the edge over their rivals. Robert Lewandowski was criminally underutilised in the first half. Poland's highest scorer in the qualifying campaign was not supplied with the adequate passes.

Senegal can be credited as thoroughly deserving winners. Poland need to do lot more homework if they want to qualify from a suddenly wide-open group. 

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Live Commentary: Poland vs Senegal

Final score: Poland 1 Senegal 2

Min 90+4: No, he doesn't. It was total chaos on the ground for last 120 minutes till the final whistle. The score stands Poland 1 Senegal 2. 

Min 90:Four minutes of extra time has been added. Can Lewandowski make it count? 

Min 85: Krychowiak scores from header. That was beautiful header from the Krychowiak. Looks like, Poland is in touching distance of a vital point. Just a goal away. 

Min 83:  Poland make their final change with Piszczek replaced by Bartosz Bereszynski

Min 80: Senegal substitution: Moussa Konate on for Niang. Poland substitution: Dawid Kownacki on for Milik. 

Min 79: Poland has finally got the tempo. They are in full domination of the game. The only thing that is missing is the last magic touch in the penalty box area. But looks like they it's too late for Poland. 

Min 72:  Gueye is penalised for a foul on Robert Lewandowski. Substituion: Mama Biram Diouf off, Birmingham City’s Cheick Ndoye on.

Min 62: Krychowiak clips 50 yard long pass back to the keeper which falls on the no man's land. Niang races in to get the ball off the right wing and beats both the defender and Szczesny with a neat chip over the keeper. Resulting in an open net. 

Min 58:  Goallllllll. Niang doubles Senegal's lead. What an awful mistake by Poland's keeper. 

Min 54: Good news for the Poland. Lewnadowski is finally getting the ball. And it is yet to be seen how he can change the wave of the game in favour of Poland. He has been booked for a foul on Ismaila Sarr as the pair tussle for the ball down.

Min 50: Lewandowski takes the free-kick. He send it to the extreme top right corner of the bar. Senegal keeper sends it wide. 

Min 49: Lewandowski wins the ball on the halfway line and races forward. But was brought down illegally by Salif Sane on the edge of the Senegal penalty area.  Sane has been booked for the tackle. Poland gets a free-kick. This angle can be very dangerous for Senegal.

Min 46: We are off again. Błaszczykowski gets replaced by J Bednarek.

Half-time analysis:

The only difference maker between the two sides was Thiago Cionek’s own-goal. He couldn't do much about the Idrissa Guye low drive shot  which went in off his shin after 37 minutes.

Poland can potentially make some changes to the central midfield. They need a bit help on the wings, which has been ruthlessly exploited by Senegal. Saudi Mane's side has been a giant in the midfield, outmuscling their oppoenents at every end.

Min 45: Two extra minutes have been added to the game. Both teams are trying to hold onto the rythmn but to no avail.

Min 41: Senegal wins a corner. The ball flaots into the mixer. Salif Sane flies the highest but fails to score and grounds the ball to the ground. 

Min 38: Goallllllllllllllll. Senegal takes the lead through a deflected own goal off Thiago Cione. Finally, the deadlock is shattered but that's sad for the Poland. They deserved better. Idrissa Gueye's low drive took a deflection off Cionek and went ahead of right hand corner of hopelessly wrong-footed Szczesny.

Min 33: Senegal is getting the better off the Poland. They are getting good with the crosses and giving inch-perfect passes.

Min 25: Both the teams are missing that last touch. That killer instinct. There is real possibility that either can take the lead before the half time.

Min 23: Looks like Poland have finally read the Lewandowski's mind. He gets the ball near the box and puts it well wide.  

Min 22:   Lewandowski is yet to receive the deliveries to get the thigs going for Poland.

Min 21: Pazdan clears a Senegal cross into the box by almost kicking his own goalkeeper in the face. Senegal should give a tutorial to defenders on how to communicate with the goalkeeper. 
 

Min 20: Krychowiak tries a shot from distance. Arkadiusz Milik  tries to chip the ball in net but it gets over the bar. 

Min 14: Kalidou Koulibaly concedes a corner under pressure from Lewandowski. Nothing comes with it.

Min 12: Gregorz Krychowiak gets booked for foul on Niang. Senegal gets a free-kick. The distance from goal is around 30-35 yards. Sadio Mane take the free-kick. Anddd it goes horribly wrong. 

Min 10: Blaszczykowski is flagged for offside as Poland look to get off the pressure on their defence. Senegal have been quite impressive from the start. They have started dominating the play.

Min 7: Poland's Thiago Cionek concedes a needless corner. M’Baye Niang takes the corner. Poland clears it without much effort. 

Min 4: Both the teams are still trying to find a rythmn with the ball which leads a slow start of the game. 

Min 1: Senegal gets the ball rolling but Poland gets the initial possession of the ball. Jakub Blaszczykowski has his 100th appearance for the Poland.Legend. 

Senegal kicksoff the game

Players are now out of the tunnel. National anthems of Poland and Senegal are being played out. It's going to be a good contest. 

It's clash of the titans. Two superstars, Sadio Mane and Robert Lewandowski, at their prime will be battling it out against each other in the World Cup opener.

The line-ups are out:  SENEGAL (4-4-2): Khadim N'Diaye; Kalidou Koulibaly, Salif Sane, Youssouf Sabaly, Moussa Wague; Alfred N'Diaye, M'Baye Niang, Ismaila Sarr, Idrissa Gueye; Mame Biram Diouf, Sadio Mane

Subs: Cheikh N'Doye, Moussa Sow, Alfred Gomis, Adama Mbengue, Abdoulaye Diallo, Diafra Sakho, Keita, Lamine Gassama, Cheikhou Kouyate, Badou Ndiaye, Kara, Moussa Konate

POLAND (4-5-1): Wojciech Szczesny; Lukasz Piszczek, Maciej Rybus, Thiago Cionek, Michal Pazdan; Jakub Blaszczykowski, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Arkadiusz Milik, Kamil Grosicki, Piotr Zielinski; Robert Lewandowski

Subs: Dawid Kownacki, Bartosz Bialkowski, Rafal Kurzawa, Jan Bednarek, Artur Jedrzejczyk, Lukasz Teodorczyk, Bartosz Bereszynski, Jacek Goralski, Karol Linetty, Kamil Glik, Slawomir Peszko, Lukasz Fabianski

 

While Senegal is making their comeback to the World Cup after their 2002 show till the quarter-finals, Poland is in Russia after failing to qualify for the 2010 and 2014 editions.

Both teams have a lot of pace in their attacks.

Sadio Mane vs Robert Lewandowski

While Bayern Munich star Lewandowski will again be the main man for Poland in the upcoming tie despite experiencing a disappointing season in the Champions League with Bayern Munich, their opponents will bank on Liverpool attacker Sadio Mane.

Mane scored 17 times while qualifying through Africa and 10 times in the Champions League. Lewandowski set a European qualification record with 16 goals in 10 matches to secure Poland's place in Russia.

The main worry for Poland is that Lewandowski lacks support as the team lacks star players. But the team have Rafal Kurzawa, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Piotr Zielinski, who are capable of keeping Lewandowski supplied with little chances.

Robert Lewandowski talks about his plans to help his team at the FIFA World Cup.

Lewandowski: "I expect to play the best football possible" "They (Senegal) are very good on counter-attacks - when they attack, they do it really quickly. They don't waste time when they have the ball. They try to get forward and fire off shots as quickly as possible. They are a really dangerous team," Lewandowski was quoted as saying by FIFA.com.

Robert Lewandowski. (Photo: Shuttershock)

The other important player for Poland is Napoli's young midfielder Piotr Zielinski, who scored four goals in this season's Serie A.

Senegal's star forward Sadio Mane is almost lost for words when describing the feeling of playing in his first FIFA World Cup.

Mane, on the other hand, have plenty of match-winners around him like Moussa Sow, Diafra Sakho, M'Baye Niang, Mame Biram Diouf and Keita Balde. However, if these players misfire, Stoke City's Mame Diouf or Ismaila Sarr can act as their covers.

Mane: "I don't know how to explain it"

The eight provide different options, with Sow, providing a leading aerial presence, Sakho dangerous with his back to goal, Mame Diouf a tireless worker and the young and pacy Sarr is able to open space along the wings, where M'Baye Niang can also perform. At the back, Napoli defensive powerhouse Kalidou Koulibaly offers security and determination.

Having a wealth of such options has seen head coach Aliou Cisse juggle his options in the run up to the World Cup. Goalless draws against Bosnia-Herzegovina and, especially, Luxembourg, where Senegal mustered 13 shots without finding the back of the net, imply he is yet to find the right formula.

The 23-man Senegal football squad for World Cup 2018. (Photo: @FootballSenegal)

So in the upcoming match Poland, who got knocked out in the group stage in their last two appearances at the World Cup -- 2002 and 2006 -- will aim to go further while Senegal will look to start on a positive note, registering a win here.

Poland's final 23-man list is:

Goalkeepers: Bartosz Bialkowski (Ipswich), Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea) and Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus)

Defenders: Jan Bednarek (Southampton), Bartosz Bereszynski (Sampdoria), Thiago Cionek (SPAL), Marcin Kaminski (Stuttgart), Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund), Artur Jedrzejczyk and Michal Pazdan (both Legia Warsaw)

Midfielders: Jakub Blaszczykowski (Wolfsburg), Jacek Goralski (Ludogorets), Kamil Grosicki (Hull City), Grzegorz Krychowiak (West Bromwich Albion), Rafal Kurzawa (Gornik Zabrze), Karol Linetty (Sampdoria), Slawomir Peszko (Lechia Gdansk), Maciej Rybus (Lokomotiv Moscow) and Piotr Zielinski (Napoli)

Forwards: Dawid Kownacki (Sampdoria), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Arkadiusz Milik (Napoli), Lukasz Teodorczyk (Anderlecht)

Senegal's 23-man squad:

Goalkeepers: Abdoulaye Diallo (Rennes), Alfred Gomis (SPAL), Khadim Ndiaye (Horoya)

Defenders: Lamine Gassama (Alanyaspor), Saliou Ciss (Valenciennes), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Kara Mbodii (Anderlecht), Youssouf Sabaly (Bordeaux), Salif Sane (Hannover), Moussa Wague (Eupen);

Midfielders: Idrissa Gueye (Everton), Cheikhou Kouyate (West Ham United), Alfred Ndiaye (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Badou Ndiaye (Stoke City), Cheikh Ndoye (Birmingham City), Ismaila Sarr (Rennes);

Forwards: Keita Balde (Monaco), Mame Biram Diouf (Stoke City), Moussa Konate (Amiens), Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Mbaye Niang (Torino), Diafra Sakho (Rennes), Moussa Sow (Bursaspor).

When and Where to watch: Poland vs Senegal

Time: 8.30 PM

FIFA World Cup 2018 Poland vs Senegal match will take place on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, at 8.30 PM

Poland vs Senegal will be broadcast on Sony Ten 2, Sony Ten 2 HD, Sony ESPN, Sony ESPN HD in English Commentary and Sony Ten 3 and Sony 3 HD in Hindi Commentary.

Poland vs Senegal match will be available for live streaming on Sony Liv. And Both Airtel and Jio would broadcast the FIFA World Cup 2018 matches for free to their respective subscribers.