The Gambia’s local based National Team prepares for next weekend’s CHAN qualifiers at home to Mali with an impressive 1-0 defeat of Guinea Bissau in Bissau today. Real De Banjul’s goal-predator Yankuba Jarju scored the game’s only goal in the first half.
It was the second time within a week that the two sides face each other in an international friendly with the first leg ending in a goalless stalemate at Bakau’s Independence Stadium last Saturday.
Saturday’s result saw the Junior Scorpions extend their unbeaten record to four games following two earlier matches at home to Morocco earlier this year. The first of those two encounters ended in a goalless stalemate at the Stadium but a much-improved performance saw the hosts secured an impressive 3-2 win at Brikama’s Box Bar Mini-Stadium few days later. This means Alhagie Sarr’s charges have secured two wins and two draws in the four games it has played so far ahead of the beginning of the qualifiers this weekend.
The Gambia will host Mali on Saturday July 15th and victory over the two legs will secure a place against either Liberia or Mauritania in the second and final round of qualifiers where a place in Kenya 2018 would be at stake. Qualification to the CHAN will be Gambia’s greatest football achievement since the National Team has never qualified to a major finals at senior level.
The two games were arranged by The Gambia Football Federation to give the coaching staff the opportunity to test their players in a match situation ahead of the important qualifiers. Just as the two upcoming two games against Mali, the double-header Bissau friendly was solely sponsored by the Federation.
