Gambia Coach Tom Saintfiet has expressed satisfaction with yesterday’s 1-0 defeat of Guinea Conakry in an international football friendly played in Marrakech, Morocco. Ebrima Sohna scored the game’s only goal after 40 minutes, 20 minutes after he entered the pitch when he replaced the injured debutant Saul Jobarteh.
Speaking in a post-match interview with www.gambiaff.org, the 46-year-old said it’s a positive feeling to go into Wednesday’s match with the hosts with a win against one of the best teams in Africa. He said the Moroccans would be a tougher task but is relishing the challenge of facing one of the top teams in the world. He added that though it is too early to tell, there could be some changes in the starting team against the Atlas Lions.
“I’m very satisfied with this win because we were testing young and new players and for them to perform at this level against a team that is 68 in the world this is magnificent. In total seven players who have never played for the National Team ever before made their debuts today and I think they’ve integrated very well in the group. The moment we came into the hotel we were maybe very afraid that there would be different groups but from day one its one group which is proud to play for The Gambia,” he affirmed.
“We are hopeful that if we have a better draw in the qualifiers we will be able to qualify for the 2021 African Cup of Nations and the 2022 World Cup. This is why this win is very important because it will catapult us in the FIFA rankings and this will have an impact on the kind of group we will have in the qualifiers.”
Experienced defenders Bubacarr Sanneh (only three minutes played), Mamadou Futty Danso and Pa Modou who all didn’t play against the Sylli Nationale could all be handed starts as well as the returning Lamin Jallow, who is expected on Monday, Muhammed Badamosi and Moussa Kamara who joined his teammates today but the Saint isn’t prepared to give much away. “It is important for us to see first how the players recover because they were involved in a very physical game. Ebrima Colley is returning back to his team because he has a semifinal to play but then we will have Lamin Jallow back,” he said.
“I think it is very good to look forward as we have a lot of young players, motivated players a lot of players who love to play for their country and are ready to battle and fight and even get good results against big nations so it looks good for the future.”
The Coach has given today as a free day and the team will resume training tomorrow Sunday the 9th June, 2019 to prepare for the second and final game of this 11-day training camp. The match will be played at the Stade de Marrakech starting at 6:30pm Gambian time.