Casablanca – 04-09-2024
New Scorpion defender Momodou Lion Njie has been speaking of the honour and pride to represent The Gambia as a full international. The KFUM Oslo defender was last week confirmed amongst the four new players included in the gaffer Johnathan McKinstry’s squad ahead of the double-header AFCON qualifiers against Comoros and Tunisia here in Morocco.
Mo, as he is fondly called, was one of the first batch of players to arrive here, which will host the two matches on Wednesday and Sunday respectively. Speaking in an exclusive interview with the GFF Media, the 22-year-old, who is the nephew of legendary late Gambian musician Ousu ‘Lion’ Njie, described the emotional state of his family after hearing the news on television.
“It’s an amazing feeling and I’m really happy to be here. I worked hard for it, step by step. It’s been a long journey but I’m really honoured to be called up to the Gambia national team. Johnathan contacted me after the June camp [to ask] if I would be interested and I said I would be honoured. When he said my name [in the unveiling of his final squad] I was really happy and my family started calling me and my sister and my mum started crying. I have received several messages of support and congratulations from friends and family back home in the Gambia and Norway. So, it’s really a big moment for me and I really honoured to be here,” Mo Njie said.
“I remember when I was playing at 13-14 years and I was good at the time my coach told my father that I can’t play for the Gambia national team, and must play for Norway. My father started laughing and said to him, ‘it’s his choice’. I didn’t understand then because we never talked about it but he added one day the option would come and we’d talk about it. So, when Johnathan contacted me, it wasn’t really an option to wait for Norway because I’d always wanted to represent The Gambia.”
Speaking further, the solid defender thanked his new teammates for the amazing welcome they gave him throughout. Njie, who surprised even his colleagues for speaking perfect Wolof, even though he was born and raised in Norway, said his ability to communicate perfectly in his mother tongue, has been one of the deciding factors to his quick integration into the group.
Recognising the remarkable strides made by Gambian players, from the youth to the elite level over the last few years, he also expressed optimism that the future is only going to get even better for our game.
“It’s going to be better and better for the Gambia because the players are doing well and the U-20 and U-18s are doing fine too so we need to continue to believe that we will qualify and we will compete well. I’ve been seeing these players [my new teammates] on television and suddenly I’m training with them but they’re very good guys and they’ve been very welcoming for me. It’s been fun for me here and I’m enjoying it,” he further asserted.
