Head Coach Abdoulie Bojang today confirmed his final list of 24 players to represent Gambia at the WAFU A U-17 tournament that will get underway in the Senegalese city of Thies this weekend.
The West African Football Union tournament will serve as a qualifier for the Baby Scorpions and five other countries with the winner to represent the region at the African U-17 Cup of Nations to be hosted by Morocco in September 2021.
Earlier on Tuesday, the 2005 and 2009 African champions were paired against the hosts and Mauritania in Group A. Group B consists of Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau and Mali and the top two ranked sides from each group will proceed to the semifinals. The Baby Scorpions will open their campaign with Senegal on Friday at 2pm at the Stade Lat Dior before concluding their group stage matches against Mauritania on Sunday at 5pm.
The team is scheduled to leave for Senegal later today and speaking in an interview with the GFF in house medium, the former Scorpion midfielder, Bojang, remains optimistic of his team’s chances, describing the draw as a fair one.
“For me it is a fair draw because football is all about having confidence in the work that you do; the boys are well prepared. We work very hard in terms of tactics, and that’s what we’re going to play,” the former Stave Biko gaffer said.
“We want to qualify to the Africa U-17 Championship; that’s our target but we have to take it game by game. The Senegal game is the most important, they are the host and we have to respect them; we have to know how to approach the game then after the Senegal game, the next game will be the target. If we qualify for the semifinal we will also prepare for that game too.”
He thank The Gambia Football Federation for the support given to his team and called on all Gambians to rally behind them and pray for their success.
Final squad list: Lamin Mbaye; Yankuba Sanneh; Ismaila Sanneh; Modou Lamin Kassama; Jim Jeng; Sanna Ceesay; Abdoulie Baldeh; Bakary Jatta; Adama Bojang; Sellou Jallow; Lamin Sillah; Muhammed Manjang; Kebba Njie; Modou Lamin Kanteh; Sanna Ceesay; Mahmudu Bajo; Modou Lamin Marong; Kebba Sonko; Kemo Sillah; Muhammed Marreh; Lamin Jarju; Mustapha Bojang; Abdou Barra Sarr; and Alpha Omar Jallow.
The delegation to the Senegal championship is headed by Mr. Bakary K. Jammeh the First Vice President of the GFF and also consists of a Team Manager in Modou O. Njie and a Media Officer Ebrima Suwareh. Bojang is assisted by former Scorpion Captain Abdou T-Boy Jammeh.
