Koulibaly: Important for Senegal to start World Cup with victory

Senegal centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly is excited to see his team get their World Cup campaign off to a winning start. 

The Teranga Lions became the first African side to register a win in Russia following a 2-1 victory over Poland in Group H. 

After Thiago Cionek put Aliou Cisse's outfit 1-0 up with a 37th minute own goal, Mbaye Niang doubled the lead on the hour mark, before Grzegorz Krychowiak pulled one back four minutes to full-time to halve the deficit at Otkritie Arena in Moscow. 

"It was not an easy match," Koulibaly said  . 

"But we understood that we had to stay grouped and respect the instructions of the coach, and this made us win. 

"The victory was very important to start this World Cup. 

"Senegal is a great football country. 

"We conceded a goal that we could have avoided. But it's like that."

The result has put Senegal top of Group H, with a better goal difference partitioning them and Japan, who beat Colombia 2-1 in the other game. 

"It's not only the defense that insured the win, but the whole team and we will not change," Koulibaly added. 

"We will go to Yekaterinburg to play the next match against Japan. 

"Now having played last [among the African teams] was good because we saw the mistakes of the others and we worked hard not to repeat them. 

"Very nice victory for the Senegalese but also for Africa who needed it."

Senegal play Japan on Sunday before facing Colombia four days later.