Young Scorpions Coach Matarr M’Boge has stressed that his side is focused on securing a win against Ghana tomorrow as they eye a place in the knockout stages of the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations currently underway in Mauritania.
Despite an opening day defeat to Morocco and conceding a last minute goal for a share of the spoils against Tanzania, the Gambians stand a good chance of finishing in one of the qualifying spots if they win against the Black Satellites in the 7pm kickoff on Monday.
“For us we want to make sure that our faith lies in our hands by going out to win but also be very cautious of our defense to avoid goals as well. Our objective is clear and that is to win and then potentially at the final whistle we can see where we are,” he said while speaking at a pre-match press conference.
While acknowledging the man-of-the-match performance of Kajally Drammeh in Friday’s stalemate, M’Boge expressed delight with the performance and quality of the entire team throughout the tournament. “We’re playing a tough Ghanaian team but we also know that we have shown our quality to Africa and the world that there’s huge talent in Gambian football. So we need to show the best of ourselves in order to get the best of Ghana,” he added.
“We always play to win. I’m not a coach that looks for draws. I’ve very talented pool of young players that to pick an 11 or even the 21 squad is always a headache and that is good. It’s shows that we have a lot of options, a lot of variations and what we’ll see tomorrow is going to be a set up that’s going for a win.”
M’boge further expressed joy in the level of mental spirit shown by his team, especially in difficult situations. “They’re very strong mentally. When they’re backed against the wall, there’s this ‘never give up’ mantra that’s filtered down from the Senior National Team and that’s what these boys have done so far since I’ve been looking after them and I’m sure they’re going to give that same usual response. They’re not going to give up, they are not going to let themselves down, let me down, let their country down. I have a strong feeling that the boys will put in a very good game tomorrow night. Great as teams are, there’s always a weakness and we’ve analyzed them so we’ll try to see where we can exploit their weaknesses and collect the valid points from Ghana.”