Fresh from securing qualification to the African Cup of Nations, the Scorpions will play two international friendly matches in a training camp to be held in the Turkish resort city of Antalya next month.
The training camp for the next FIFA window between May 31 to 12th June has been finalised and Tom Saintfiet’s charges will first have a June 5 date with fellow AFCON debutants Comoros before rounding up the camp with a titanic battle against Kosovo on 11th June.
The importance of this training camp cannot be overemphasised in the sense that it will give the Coach and technical staff the opportunity to invite new players and experiment with his team selection and tactics ahead of the AFCON, as well as avail them to assess the ability of the players that would potentially make the cut for the finals. It should also be noted that due to club commitments, national team players do not usually have much time to spend together and prepare for matches, thus depriving them of the opportunity to examine the real strength and depth of their teams.
Thus, this camp will not only ensure the team has ample time together, it will further allow the Coach to continue nurturing a common understanding on where the team wants to be and how to approach matches at the African Cup of Nations and other upcoming competitive matches depending on the type of opposition. It will help in improving our current FIFA ranking of 152 so as to avoid the gruesome experience of a preliminary round in the 2023 AFCON qualifiers.
The choices were limited due to the unavailability of the majority of the African countries that will be involved in World Cup qualifiers during the same window. However, that notwithstanding, it must be noted that the two opponents aren’t pushovers either. The duo is currently ranked ahead of The Gambia on the FIFA rankings and Head Coach Tom Saintfiet has expressed his delight that The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) has arranged the camp with the pair of friendlies against these two strong sides.
About Kosovo National Team
Nicknamed the Dardanians, from the word, the Dardani, which is a Paleo-Balkan tribe, Kosovo became a recognised FIFA and UEFA Member Association in 2014 and is currently ranked 120 in the world, 32 places above The Gambia on the global podium. In the last FIFA window in March, they played three World Cup qualifiers where they annihilated Lithuania, a country ranked 129 in the world, 4-0 but however lost to powerhouses Spain and Sweden 3-1 and 3-0 respectively.
Kosovo in the last few years has established itself as one of the toughest opponents in European qualifying having drew 2004 European champions Greece, defeated the Czech Republic 2-1 and securing another impressive 3-2 victory in Bulgaria as well as a nail-biting draw with EURO 92 winners Denmark. They are still fondly remembered in England for giving the Three Lions a hell of a scare when they lost 5-3 in an eight-goal thriller at the home of football, Wembley in a recent qualifier.
However, these results shouldn’t come much as a surprise to many who have been following their progress. Because of their late admission into the global football family, FIFA has made specific exemptions for Kosovo to field in players that had already represented top countries at full international level so long they have links to the country. Majority of their players played for the national teams of Albania, Switzerland and Norway (Valon Berisha even played 20 matches for Norway before switching his allegiance to them) before while others had represented Germany, Austria, Sweden, and Montenegro at youth level.
Their top scorer is striker Vedat Muriqi who has scored 11 goals in 29 games and plays his club football with SS Lazio of Roma in the Italian top flight, with others players in this star-studded foreign based team playing for clubs such as Napoli, Torino, FC Zürich, Werder Bremen, Basel, Dijon, Sunderland, Hannover 96, Stade Reims, amongst others.
About Comoros National Team
Comoros, just like The Gambia, will be making their first ever appearance at an African Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon next year. Les Coelacantes finished second in their qualifying group behind Egypt but ranked ahead of Kenya and 2006 World Cup finalists Togo, who both failed to qualify.
During the qualifiers, they won in Lome and at home against the Harambe Stars, before drawing with the most successful side in the African Cup of Nations history, the record seven times champions, Egypt. In the six qualifying matches they played, they only lost once away to The Pharaohs. Comoros is currently 21 positions ahead of The Gambia on the FIFA World Rankings at 131.
The majority of their players are foreign based who play for clubs in France, but they have also professionals in other European countries like Nottingham Forest in England, Red Star Belgrade of Serbia, KV Kortrijk, Zulte Waregem, RKC Waalwijk in Belgium and Lausanne of Switzerland.
