By Lamin Cham
After the 5-1 beating by Ghana’s Black Maidens at the Independence Stadium on Saturday which effectively killed The Gambia’s quest to reach another women’s under-17 World Cup, there are calls for the team to stay in Banjul and the GFF to withdraw from the second leg.
Abdulai Mukarama scored four goals after Nina Norshie put Ghana ahead just two minutes into the game. Fatouma Sowe got the consolation goal for The Gambia.
Ghana will host The Gambia in the return leg encounter in a fortnight at the Cape Coast Stadium. The winner of the two-legged tie will face Djibouti in the next stage of the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers for a place in the tournament to be staged in Uruguay from 13 November to 1 December 2018.
“However with Saturday’s disastrous result, many are calling on the GFF to save much-needed cash and avoid pursuing a fleeting illusion. If pulling out of the second leg is much cheaper than going for it, I will advise the GFF to withdraw before Ghana spend anything on the second leg,” said Alieu Sanneh, fan of Gambian football.
Another fan, Ismaila Jagne, said the gap between Ghana and The Gambia at this level is just too big. “We cannot make this one. I cannot see us scoring six goals without reply in Ghana. There is no point going to Ghana if that is possible, otherwise, any further hammering by Ghana will only soil our declining image in football,” he said.
