The Young Scorpions will begin its quest for a place at the U-20 World Cup when it opens their African championship title push with an opening match against Morocco. Matarr M’Boge’s charges learnt of their group opponents as the draw for the 2021 U-20 African Cup of Nations was held in Cameroon today.
The Gambia and Morocco are joined in Group C by West African rivals Ghana and Tanzania. The Young Scorpions will face off with Morocco in their opening match on February 16 before they entertain Tanzania three days later and wrap up its group campaign with a derby match against the Black Satellites of Ghana on 22nd February.
The Mauritania championship, which will get underway on Valentine’s Day, is the 16th edition of the biannual competition that is played by players aged 20 and below. It is the first edition of the competition that is expanded to 12 teams and the four semifinalists will represent Africa at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia later this year.
The Gambia will be making its third appearance in the continental showpiece event having won the WAFU A Championship in Senegal in November. The Young Scorpions’ best finish is third at the 2007 edition in Congo Brazzaville, and later that year made a second round appearance at the World Cup in Canada.
The last time that it played at this level was in 2011 where they made a group stage exit in South Africa. Exactly a decade later, their scintillating performance in Senegal has made them one of the favourites to appear in the later stages of the competition, especially with three teams, from two of the three groups, qualifying to the knockout stages of the tournament.
However, they will face some strong opposition in three times African winners and 2009 FIFA world champions Ghana, who are making their 12th appearance in the competition and the 1997 champions in Morocco who themselves have made four previous appearances before this year. On paper, Tanzania will be the ranked outsiders in the group since they are making their maiden appearance in the competition.