By Razeen Gutta
The opening round of Group A Fifa World Cup fixtures concluded with Afcon winners Senegal defeated 2-0, but not without a fight.
For 84 minutes, without their star man Sadio Mané (who was ruled out of the tournament), Aliou Cisse’s Senegal looked set to take something from their opposition, who are ranked the eighth best in the world.
The African champions almost matched the Dutch side for possession and even edged them in terms of attempts, and while they failed to score past the Virgil Van Dijk-led side, it seemed that a point was more likely than not.
While the Netherlands may have left it late, they did get the goals they needed to match group opponents Ecuador’s result against hosts Qatar on Sunday.
Frenkie de Jong was creatively their best player on the pitch; and the Barcelona man played in Cody Gakpo who broke the deadlock with six minutes of normal time to play.
Deep into 10 minutes of stoppage time, substitute Memphis Depay tested Edouard Mendy in the Senegal goal, with the Chelsea keeper making the save into Davy Klaassen’s path.
The Ajax midfielder put it away to send his side joint top of Group A with games against Ecuador and Qatar still to come.
Pictured above: Davy Klaassen
Image source: @FifaWorldCup
