The first round of fixtures have been completed at the ongoing Russia 2018 World Cup and it has not been a very good showing by Africa. It was not until the 5th day that an African country scored for the first time in a match which Tunisia lost by 1-2 to England.
Prior to that, Egypt lost in a keenly contested match to Uruguay by 1 goal to nothing. Jose Gimenez headed in a Carlos Sanchez' free-kick in the 90th minute to claim all 3 points.
In a similar fate, Morocco narrowly lost to Iran by the lone goal.
On Saturday the fate of Africa turned to the Super Eagles of Nigeria who were already crowned winners of the fashion world cup. They seemed to be satisfied with their beautiful kit as they put up a lacklustre performance. They ended up losing by 2 unreplied goals to Croatia.
Africa however, had cause to smile when Senegal defeated Poland in the final match of the Opening round of fixtures. Senegal were impressive as they forced an own-goal from Poland's Cionek in the 37th minute.
For the 2nd goal, M'Baye Niang sprinted back on to the field of play after injury and immediately intercepted a backpass from midfield, beating former Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and Southampton defender Jan Bednarek to the ball. He then slotted into an empty net.
Poland didn't lose without a fight. An 86th minute strike by Krychowiak put Poland back in the contest but Senegal would end the match with all 3 points.
As the 2nd round of matches kicks off, the time is now, for Africa to stand up and be counted.
No comments:
Post a Comment