Aliou Cissé broke down in tears in front of his Senegal players a few days ago. The manager had been overcome following prayers with his squad and, perhaps, by what it all meant for his country to be at a World Cup for only the second time in their history.

The first, famously, had been in 2002, when Cissé was the midfielder enforcer for the late Bruno Metsu’s team who shocked the world and European champions France in the opening group tie en route to a heartbreaking quarter-final exit against Turkey. No African team have gone further in the competition.

Cissé has felt the weight of history and he has known his challenge is to bring those low‑definition images up to date. On a glorious occasion for the Teranga Lions, he got off to the perfect start. Each of the four other African nations here had lost their opening games but Senegal, who are arguably the continent’s most fancied team, punished a pair of hideous defensive mix-ups from Poland to spark wild scenes among their supporters.

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The opening goal was a nightmare for the Poland centre-half Thiago Cionek, who played instead of the injured first-choice Kamil Glik. Idrissa Gueye’s shot was going wide when he deflected it past the wrong-footed Wojciech Szczesny. But the second on the hour was an even greater calamity.

Grzegorz Krychowiak’s back-pass was dreadfully mishit and, with confusion reigning between Szczesny and the substitute Jan Bednarek, Mbaye Niang stole in to finish. The striker had been off the field for treatment and, when he came back on, he shot straight through to score. Senegal had been readying Cheikh Ndoye at the same time and Poland did not expect to see Niang.

“The players thought a substitute was coming on – that’s why there was a big misunderstanding,” Adam Nawalka, the Poland manager, said.

Krychowiak ignited the possibility of a late Poland fightback with a firm header from Kamil Grosicki’s free-kick but it never looked on. At full-time some of the Senegal players sank to their knees and kissed the turf. For them, hope springs eternal.

“This is not the same taste as the France result in 2002,” Cissé said. “France colonised Senegal so when we faced them it was quite exceptional. But this victory is just as important. It was absolutely important for Africa that we won. Senegal represent the whole continent. I can guarantee the whole of Africa is supporting Senegal.”

Poland could not get going, with Robert Lewandowski shackled by Salif Sané and Kalidou Koulibaly. “Plans are one thing, the implementation is something different,” Nawalka said. “Our actions were not coordinated and dynamic. When we play Colombia next I’m convinced we will have a much better mental attitude.”

The striker Arkadiusz Milik said: “It was one of our worst performances for a long time. Senegal built a wall and we were not able to jump over it. I’m not sure if Senegal played well or we were so bad.”

The game had been deadlocked and it needed a goal. Gueye had a hand in it and, if it was marked by good fortune, he and Senegal would argue they made it for themselves.

Niang won the ball from Lukasz Piszczek on the halfway line and he advanced before feeding Sadio Mané, who rolled it square to Gueye. He had Michal Pazdan jumping into a block in front of him and his connection was not clean. He dragged it and the ball was heading wide before fate – and Cionek – intervened.

The statistics showed there had been no shots on target in the first half and Poland, in particular, offered nothing as an attacking threat. Nawalka swapped Jakub Blasczykowski, who won his 100th cap, for Bednarek and switched from 4-4-2 to 3-4-3 but things would get worse.

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The danger was minimal when Krychowiak looked to lob a pass back to Szczesny from just inside the Senegal half but he got it all wrong, leaving it short. Part two of the breakdown was between Szczesny and Bednarek. The goalkeeper resolved to race out for it and Bednarek hesitated, presumably having heard a call from him.

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Szczesny never looked like getting there first and, when Niang nipped in, he flicked the ball over the goalkeeper before running on to score. Szczesny had started the inquest before Niang tapped into the empty net.

Poland had cried fouled in the 49th minute when Lewandowski won the ball and blasted away only to be blocked off by Sané. The covering defender Moussa Wagué probably saved his teammate a red card. Sané escaped with yellow. Khadim Ndiaye sprang to his left to keep out Lewandowski’s free-kick.

Poland flattered to deceive in front of thousands of their supporters, who had taken over roughly 60% of the stadium, and Krychowiak’s goal was too little, too late. Senegal’s triumph was opportunistic but underpinned by pace, discipline and aggression.