Following the historic away win for the Gambia in more than three decades in a competitive Qualifier, Scorpions Coach Tom Saintfiet has reacted to the country’s emphatic 3-1 win attributing it to the collective approach of the players, technical staff, fans and the support generated by the Gambia Football Federation and the government of the Gambia through the Ministry of Youths and Sports.
In his post post match talk, Saintfeit said his staff and players were confident prior to the game. “I believed in the squad quality and all preparatory measures were done effectively for the game”. The Gambia having last won a competitive away leg in 36 years was at an ebullient end at Wednesday’s series of Afcon Qualifiers across the continent while taking on Angola at the Estadio 11th Novembro in Luanda. However according to Saintfiet, “its a great start for the qualification campaign as we look forward to DR Congo. They are a strong opponent 54 on FIFA ranking. It’s not going to be easy but this win gives us confidence and we need to recover well”, he noted.
The Belgian tactician stated that some players have received knocks. ” I am not sure if everyone will be available on Monday. Ablie Jallow, Modou Barrow and Njine Faye Njie are all doubtful for the Monday encounter through injury but we will see before then to give us good results at home”.
He singled out Assan Ceesay as been The Man of The Match scoring the brace for the Scorpions. “It was exactly this day in two years ago that he scored another two goals for the Gambia at a training camp in Morocco and he did it here too”. He described the FC Zurich maverick as a great talent. “But naturally not only the will of Assan but the entire team gave it all and created opportunities for Assan to be clinical with the finishes”.
Reacting to his approach for the home game on Monday to DR Congo, Saintfiet said the aim of the team is to get good result at home. “A victory will be brilliant but even a draw is still good for us to go forward but we all intend to win all our matches. DR Congo are perhaps the favorites but we will prepare a team to win or at least draw”.
The team is expected home on Saturday 16th November ahead of the game scheduled for Monday 18th November at the Independence Stadium in Bakau at 4pm.
