Senegal beat host nation Qatar to win their first game of the 2022 FIFA World Cup for their travelling support and for the millions of Africans counting on them to put in a strong performance for the continent.

The African champions faced off against the Asian champions in a vital game to decide the tide of Group A on Friday afternoon. From the jump, however, nobody could tell who was going to come out on top.

But after the Teranga Lions scored in the closing stages of the first half, the game started to take a turn and the favourites for the afternoon became clear to see. Aliou Cisse's men followed up Ghana's strong showing from Thursday evening against Portugal with another performance that the continent is going to be proud of.

Meanwhile, the hosts Qatar look to be crashing out of their first ever World Cup appearance in front of their home fans. If it happens, they can take pride in not leaving without a World Cup goal.

Edouard Mendy saves face with brilliant performance

Qatar made three changes to the team that lost to Ecuador on opening day, but the first 15 minutes saw Senegal have most of the clear cut chances. However, Qatar were able to control the ball a lot better than their opponents, even having a few touches of the ball in Senegal's box after going the whole game against Ecuador having only two touches of the ball.

Senegal, however, continued to create the better chances and eventually they put the ball in the back of the net through Boulaye Dia in the 42nd minute. The Salernitana striker pounced on a defensive error to smash the ball home.

The second half continued in similar fashion and three minutes after the restart, Senegal got their second. After winning a corner thanks to their brave play, Famara Diedhiou of Turkish Super Lig side Alyanaspor placed a beautiful header from the near post into the far post.

But Qatar fought back with a headed goal of their own after Edouard Mendy had made a couple of amazing saves to deny them. Mohammed Mountain rose higher than Kalidou Koulibaly to head the ball past Mendy in the Senegal goal.

Mendy continued to keep them out and it would prove vital for the Teranga Lions, as they got the assurance goal six minutes to the end of the 90, thanks to a deft finish from Bamba Dieng.

Felix Sanchez will be proud of his team's performance and will hope to galvanise them to fight against the Netherlands in their next game.

Senegal, meanwhile, will hope that Ecuador and The Netherlands favour them as they look to make it out of the group stages for the first time since their groundbreaking 2002 debut.