DAKAR, Senegal — Overjoyed West Africans celebrated Senegal's stunning World Cup upset of France by dancing in streets of cities from the Atlantic Ocean to the Congo River.

        “Senegal has made history!” fan Atiouma Diouf screamed among thousands in the oceanside capital, Dakar.

        Men, women and children ran and danced through the city after the “Dakar Lions,” in their World Cup debut, beat the defending champions 1-0 on Friday in the tournament's opening game in Seoul, South Korea.

        Thousands pressed up to the gates of the Palace of the Republic to congratulate President Abdoulaye Wade, who declared the day a national holiday so that all could celebrate.

        “I knew that the team could win,” Wade declared.

        He implored the team now to keep going “to defend the colors of Africa.”

        Senegal earlier had called off school for Senegal's first World Cup match, saying no one could be expected to study on such a day.

        Children started running into the streets to dance as soon as Papa Bouba Diop scored the only goal. By match's end, men and women of all ages joined in the throng.

        Drivers leaned full force on horns, not even trying to move forward in the capital's sudden euphoria jam.

        “We beat them! We beat them!” one woman in Dakar, Ndeye, screamed among the doorways and buildings draped in the country's red, green and yellow flags.

        In Seoul, Diop and four teammates, ecstatic at the accomplishment, ran to the side and formed a circle, dancing with each other, then boogied in an impromptu conga line.

        Senegal's team had been pieced together from countrymen playing for teams in Europe, mostly in France.

        Coach Bruno Metsu, who took the job at the start of last year, coaxed the Senegalese into playing better than ever, taking the country to their first African Nations Cup title.

        The victory set off smaller-scale celebrations across West Africa — like Senegal, much of it the former colonial domain of France.

        “Europeans in general and the French in particular have learned today to respect African teams!” Diaby Sekou, a businessman from Mali, said amid clamorous celebrations in the Republic of Congo's capital, Brazzaville.

        “It's a lesson — France and the rest of the world are going to have to change their vision of Africa,” student Stanislas Elenga said.

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