Without their injured superstar Sadio Mané, Senegal will lose their opening game at a soccer World Cup for the first time ever: the Africans have no chance against the Netherlands, although Louis van Gaal’s team isn’t very impressive either.

Cody Gakpo and Davy Klaassen just saved the start of the World Cup for the self-proclaimed title contender Netherlands. Youngster Gakpo (84th minute) and Klaassen (90th 9) scored in Doha to make it 2-0 (0-0) against African champions Senegal – but Oranje could not yet radiate world championship glory. After all, the Dutch team, which Bonds coach Louis van Gaal believes is capable of the big coup, made a victorious start to the World Cup for the fourth time in a row. The Senegalese, who traveled to the World Cup without their injured Bayern star Sadio Mané, now have to score points in the other group games against Qatar and Ecuador. Then keeper Edouard Mendy, who gave a bad figure at 0: 1, can’t afford any more mistakes.

Eyes were on Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk before kick-off in front of 41,721 spectators at Al Thumama Stadium. But Liverpool’s star defender had – as expected – bowed to FIFA pressure and waived the “One Love” armband. Holland had actually wanted to start a symbolic campaign together with other European countries, but FIFA threatened sanctions.

There was no political sign, and no sporting sign until the winning goal. His team could become world champions, van Gaal had said. However, Elftal’s performance was far from world champion. Far too seldom did the Oranje football artists let their class flash, and even in the top-class defense with van Dijk, Bayern defender Matthijs de Ligt and Nathan Ake there were always gaps against the uncomfortable African champions.

The Senegalese have to do without their most powerful weapon. Bayern superstar Sadio Mané injured his shinbone head before the tournament and has since had surgery. The striker encouraged his team-mates from afar, while inside the stadium the Teranga Lions received loud support from their non-stop beating fans. Even the Oranje supporters could hardly be heard.

The game of the van Gaal eleven was not intoxicating anyway. In the first half, there were occasional threats in front of the Senegalese goal when Steven Bergwijn slipped past a fine cross pass from Gakpo (4′) and midfield star Frenkie de Jong made two hooks too many in front of goalkeeper Mendy (19′). On the other side, the West Africans, who had shocked world champions France 20 years ago at the start of the World Cup, tried again and again with pinpricks from a compact defense.

But a striker like Mané was irreplaceable. Debutant Andries Noppert was hardly challenged in the Dutch goal. And with that, a short but quite impressive series of Senegal broke: In the only World Cup appearances so far, they were able to win their own opening game against opponents who were rated stronger: In 2002, the Africans surprisingly defeated the defending champions France (1-0), in 2018 they defeated them one in Russia Poland for star striker Robert Lewandowski (2: 1).

After Mané, the guests were spared the second World Cup failure before the start of the tournament. Shortly before the game, Ismail Jakobs, who was born in Cologne, received permission to play from FIFA. The full-back, who had become European champion with the German U21 in 2021, had adopted his father’s nationality. Jakobs came into play in the second half.

After 53 minutes, van Gaal finally had a chance to score – after a set piece. But van Dijk’s header went over the goal. The offensive game was still paralyzed. The bonds coach brought in the long-injured star striker Memphis Depay after just over an hour. But first Iliman Ndiaye checked the Oranje keeper Noppert (65th). When everyone was expecting a draw, Gakpo struck after de Jong’s assist.