Young Scorpions Coach Abdoulie Bojang today unveiled a strong 25-man squad for this month’s TotalEnergies African Cup of Nations in Egypt.
The core of the team that won bronze at last year’s WAFU U-20 Cup of Nations in Mauritania is retained by the former Scorpions midfield enforcer. However, he has made few new inclusions, especially in the attacking department. The squad is mainly made up of local players but there are also six foreign based players.
Waa Banjul’s Pa Ebou Dampha, who is the first-choice keeper when fit and available retained his spot while Team Rhino’s defender Mamadou Bah is handed his first call-up and Ba Lamin Sowe also returned to the fold after recently signing a professional contract with Sapin’s Tenerife.
Kajally Drammeh, one of the stars of the last AFCON in Mauritania 2021, and now plays for Cape Town City in the South African Premier League has also returned to the fold as well as Granada’s youth team player Mahmudu Bajo. Bayern Munich’s Mamin Sanyang also gets his first ever call-up in any category of a Gambia national team with Slavia Prague’s Ebrima Singhateh and Angolan side Interclube’s Momodou Lamin Marong completes the foreign sextet.
Steve Biko’s Adama Bojang, one of the best goal scorers in the national first division is also included and having formed a devastating partnership up front with Marong during their time together at Biko, the duo is hoping to be the main source of goals for The Gambia.
Speaking to the players and the GFF Media after unveiling his squad, Bojang reiterated that the team is ready to challenge any opponent during the competition. He added that it was difficult to announce the final list having seen many great players but at the end of the day not all of them can be included.
“This is not the end of the journey for you. We can only select 25 out of the 30 players that trained with us and we hope that you can continue working hard by representing your clubs in the league,” Bojang said while addressing the players that were omitted from the list.
The team is expected to go to camp at the National Technical Training Centre in Yundum on Friday after an early morning test match with Marimoo PakFood. Another local test match is expected to be played against BK Milan on Sunday morning before they leave for Cairo, Egypt on Monday morning via Morocco. There are also plans for a pre-tournament international friendly match in Cairo before finally leaving for their base in Alexandria.
The Gambia is in Group C alongside Tunisia, Benin and Zambia. The Young Scorpions will begin their campaign on February 21 against Tunisia before taking on Zambia three days later and end its group campaign against Benin on the 27th.
THE GAMBIA SQUAD LIST
GOALKEEPERS
1. PA EBOU DAMPHA – WAA BJL
18. EBRIMA JAITEH -TMT FC
22. YOUKASSEH SANYANG – STEVE BIKO FC
DEFENDERS
2. BA LAMIN SOWE – Tenerife, Spain
3. SAINEY SANYANG – HAWKS
4. ALAGIE SAINE – AC HORSENS, DENMARK
5. DEMBO SAIDYKHAN – STEVE BIKO
15. MOSES JARJU – FORTUNE
16. BAKARY JAWARA – FORTUNE
24. MAMADOU BAH – TEAM RHINO
MIDFIELDERS
6. MAHMUDU BAJO – GRANADA , SPAIN
7. BAILO BAH – HAWKS
10. KAJALLY DRAMMEH – CAPE TOWN CITY
12. MOMODOU SALIEU JALLOW – WAA BJL
13. HARUNA RASHID NJIE – GUNJUR UTD
14. MUHAMMED SAWANEH- TENGUETH, SENEGAL
17. ALIEU GIBBA – REAL DE BANJUL
23. MUHAMMED JOBE – REAL DE BANJUL FC
FORWARDS
8. SALIFU COLLEY – REAL DE BANJUL
9. MANSOUR MBYE- BANJUL UTD
11. ISMAILA MANNEH- STEVE BIKO
19. EBRIMA SINGHATEH – SLAVIA PRAGUE,
20. ADAMA BOJANG – STEVE BIKO
21. MAMIN SANYANG – FC BAYERN MUNICH
25. MOMODOU LAMIN MARONG – INTERCLUBE, ANGOLA