The Gambia is among nations given a high prediction by American international cable sports channel ESPN at the beginning of 2020 for its National Team( Scorpions) to be at the Africa Cup of Nations 2021 in Cameroon. It says the Scorpions are positioned at an improved stage to appear at its first ever Afcon. The prediction by The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications, says the “Scorpions have improved immensely under the tutelage of Tom Saintfiet who remained at the helm following an encouraging 2019 Nations Cup Qualifying campaign“.
The Bristol and Conneticut based firm pits the Gambia in their seven bold predictions for African football in 2020
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The Scorpions have improved immensely under the tutelage of Tom Saintfiet, who remained at the helm following an encouraging 2019 Nations Cup qualifying campaign.
On that occasion, the West African minnows fell short despite holding eventual champions Algeria home and away.
Already, in the 2021 qualifying campaign, they’ve taken four points from two games, including a 3-1 victory in Angola in November that set the tone for the challenges to come. For context, that was Gambia’s first ever away win in a qualifying tie for either Afcon or the World Cup, although such is their improvement under the Belgian coach that it wasn’t an immense surprise.
A double-header against Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s Gabon in late August and early September will be decisive, but if the West Africans — ranked No. 159 in the world — can maintain their core, and recruit a few new faces, then a first Afcon qualification may be theirs by the year’s end.
