With Mali’s 2-0 defeat of Congo in Match Day 5 of the AFCON qualifiers, The Gambia now requires only a point to qualify for back to back African Cup of Nations finals when they meet the same opposition in Banjul in September.
Congo scored a last-minute winner in Match Day 4 to defeat South Sudan away having lost to the same opposition at home. If not for that stoppage time winner in March, yesterday’s result would’ve guaranteed our place in Ivory Coast with a game to spare just as in our maiden qualification when we finished top of our qualification group ahead of Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
With five matches now played by each team, Mali is mathematically assured of finishing top of Group G even if they lose their final match at home to South Sudan. Mali has 12 points, with Gambia in second on nine points. The Eagles have a better head-to-head record against us, wining 2-0 at home and losing 1-0 away in Casablanca. Meetings between teams is the first tiebreaker if two or more teams finished on the same number of points.
Belgian Saintfiet is taking Gambian football to a level never seen before
Gambia had to wait for 35 years before securing a first competitive win away from home when it defeated Angola 3-1 in Luanda in 2019 but with last week’s 3-2 win over South Sudan, it didn’t have to take that long for a second. But most importantly, with only the top two assured of a place in the finals, yesterday’s defeat has left Congo in third with six points, three adrift of us. The Gambia knows that avoiding defeat against Paul Put’s charges will secure us a place in Ivory Coast next year. For the Congolese to qualify, they must beat us to pip us to second.
Tom Saintfiet’s charges themselves twice surrendered the lead against South Sudan in Egypt last week but a Hamza Barry effort seven minutes into stoppage time ensured a dramatic win for the Scorpions. The match was played at the Swiss Canal Stadium in Ismailia because South Sudan’s Juba National Stadium didn’t meet the CAF requirements to host international matches and it couldn’t have gotten off to a better start for the Gambians when we took the lead after just four minutes when the hosts’ defender headed in a Musa Barrow free-kick into his own net.
Yuel stabbed home a cut-back cross to ensure parity in the 21st minute, totally against the run of play, before Ablie Jallow’s stupendous shot outside the box restored our lead just passed the hour mark. Chol thought he had won at least a point for the hosts when he guided home the ball from a corner in the 91st minute but Barry, a second half substitute, scored his first ever goal for The Gambia with almost the last kick of the match to ensure a dramatic win for the West Africans.
