Sitting at a well-deserved second place in the Afcon 2027 qualifying group, and with at least two home matches on the pipeline, The Gambia is well on course to clinch the second automatic spot from the group to reach the finals in East Africa.
That feat is no longer a tall order in today’s Gambian football, which is enjoying a resurgent under Coach Jonathan McKinstry whose philosophy to his Scorpions is ‘fear no one and take what comes your way’.
If he crosses the Afcon bridge and secure qualification for PamoJa 2027, the country would hit an unprecedented hat trick of Caf tournaments with all three major national teams qualifying to their respective continental show pieces, namely Caf U-17, Caf U20 and the Afcon 2027.
Already, Coach Yayha Manneh has guided his Baby Scorpions to qualify for the Caf Under 17 finals in April- May 2027 in Egypt. His team also won the West African Zone A title.
On Sunday, Coach Lie Bojang secured qualification to the 2027 Caf Under- 20 championship (to be played in Ghana in February – March 2027) by reaching the zonal finals in Mali where he is currently, waiting for the final against Guinea on Wednesday.
Implications
Apart from the international exposure, greater rating and respect the country would get by attaining such a feat, the country will however have to deal with the enormous work in preparing each of these teams, financially and technically to participate in their respective events. Are we ready?
