Young Scorpions Coach Abdoulie Bojang has called for Gambians to rally behind his team as they look to participate in the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia in a couple of months.
Bojang was speaking in a post-match interview following his side’s 2-0 defeat to Senegal in the finals of the African Cup of Nations on Saturday. The Senegalese scored two headers in the opening minutes of each half to condemn the Gambians to a silver medal. It is the first silver secured by The Gambia after two third-place finishes in 2007 and 2021.
“Let Gambians continue to rally behind the team; it’s a very good team. This is football, and one has to win. The team did very well; last AFCON we took bronze and we took silver in this one so to maintain the team, let’s all be behind the team giving them moral and financial support and [we in return] will assure them that we will keep on doing better and one day our time will come,” Bojang said.
“My team put up a respectable performance but conceded goals that we shouldn’t have. It was difficult, we did some tactical changes but they [Senegal] were organised in defence and we couldn’t penetrate. We tried set pieces but again we couldn’t score. We were unable to click in midfield. There were fewer forward runs and forward passes, as well as a gap between the midfield and the strikers.”
The team will return to Banjul on Tuesday evening via Turkish Airlines and for the exceptional performance in reaching their first final as well as securing a World Cup bath, the GFF has organised an official welcome procession for them. Upon arrival at the Airport, the procession will terminate at the Football House in Kanifing via the Kombo Sillah Highway to Westfield and then to the Traffic Light at Kairaba Avenue.
