Senegal first win
Senegal recorded the first African win at the 2018 World Cup when they beat Poland 2-1 on Tuesday thanks to a deflected Thiago Cionek own goal and a terrible error by Polish 'keeper Wojciech Szczesny. Africa had a winless campaign before today as Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia lost their opening games.
Senegal's Cheikh N'Doye and team mates celebrate after the match (Photo: REUTERS)
Five own goals
"Own goal" is leading the scorers chart with five goals so far! It is a high rate, given that it only happened in 17 games - equaling the same amount scored in the whole 2014 tournament. Egypt, Morocco, Poland, Nigeria and Australia were all victims of their own blunders. The record is one goal away from the one recorded in France 1998.
List of own goals in Russia 2018:
Aziz Bouhaddouz of Morocco (Morocco 0-1 Iran, group stage)
Aziz Behich of Austarlia (Australia 1-2 France, group stage)
Oghenekaro Etebo of Nigeria (Nigeria 0-2 Croatia, group stage)
Thiago Cionek of Poland (Poland 1-2 Senegal, group stage)
Ahmed Fathi of Egypt (Russia 3-1 Egypt, group stage)
Egypt's Ahmed Fathy looks dejected with Ali Gabr after scoring Russia's first with an own goal (Photo: REUTERS)
First red card
Colombia midfielder Carlos Sanchez became the first player to be sent off in Russia. His third-minute dismissal paved the way for Japan to snatch a 2-1 victory in their opening game. Sanchez's dismissal became the second fastest red card in the World Cup history as the record still belongs to Uruguay defender Jose Batista, who received his marching orders against Scotland at the 1986 World Cup after 56 seconds.
Colombia's Carlos Sanchez is shown a red card by referee Damir Skomina (Photo: REUTERS)
Neymar leaves training
Brazil forward Neymar left training early on Tuesday after feeling pain in his right ankle and will spend the rest of the day undergoing physiotherapy. Neymar was fouled 10 times in the first match against Switzerland which Brazil drew 1-1 and is trying to get himself ready before Friday game against Costa Rica.
Brazil's Neymar during training (Photo: REUTERS)
(For more sports news and updates and a special World Cup 2018 coverage, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports )