The Gambia’s journey in the African Under 23 qualifiers reached a crucial stage this afternoon in Marrakech, Morocco where the Olympic Scorpions face Burkina Faso in the last leg of this first round tie.
This match is the home leg for The Gambia which cannot be played in Banjul for lack of a standard stadium. Coach Abdou Jammeh’s team holds a huge advantage winning 1-0 back in the first leg played in Cotonou Benin where Hibernia player Momodou Bojang converted a penalty to put Gambia one foot into the next round. If the team wants to complete the job they must avoid defeat.
That is not insurmountable to coach Jammeh who is yet to tap the full potential of his overseas based players in the likes of Foday Danso, the hot fleet Lamin Jarjue and late comer Lamara Jallow. The team also have a rich treasure of experience on the technical bench with an array of former national team players at its service from head coach Abdou Jammeh, to Arthur Gomez (Team Manager) Christopher Allen (Goalkeeper Trainer) and Abdou Njie (Assistant Coach).
“Now that we know the opponent fairly enough we have chance to improve on our approach,” the coach was quoted as saying after the first leg in Cotonou last week. The winner of the tie will meet Senegal in the second round.
