Following the unveiling of the Scorpions provisional squad ahead of the international training camp in Portugal scheduled for October 2020, Head Coach Tom Sainfiet has been speaking on the team’s preparation.
A 40 man provisional list is expected to be trimmed down later that will travel in three weeks time to the Algarve, south of Portugal for a week’s training camp.
Commenting on the reasons for choosing the South of Portugal instead of Lisbon, Saintfiet said “We chose Portugal and Algarve for strategic reasons because we needed a place where players can travel to and back to their clubs without having to quarantine for two weeks, which is one of the conditions most clubs are demanding before they can release players for the training camp“.
He said the Squad size (40 players) is a strategic number that is been anticipated hence “some players coming from outside Europe may face travel restrictions and visa issues and this is was one reason why home-based players were not selected and there are still concerns over the likes of Alagie Modou Jobe, Muhammed Badamosi and Modou Barrow all been denied entry clearance“, Saintfiet noted.
The Gambia is scheduled to play Guinea Conakry on the 13th October as one of the two test matches lined-up for the training camp. A second team is yet to be confirmed. Nonetheless, 95 percent of arrangements for a second team is been confirmed also bill for the 10th October during the training camp.
Saintfiet disclosed the objective of the training camp as a tool to help bring the base of the team from the Angola/DRC games together and to add some new players ahead of the resumption of Qualifiers for the Afcon in November 2020 against Gabon.
He said the team has a strong base and will not change much on that. “The core of the team will remain and may be add some new faces where necessary against Gabon. We have some young players who are performing very well at the moment – the likes of Musa Barrow, Musa Juwara and Ebrima Colley and some other young players who are new for the first time in the team. So we will have to look for the right mix.”
The list includes new entrant Cody Drammeh currently in the books of Leeds United and previously played for the England U-18s, Maudo Jarju (Chuka), who is also eligible to play for Guinea Bissau but has finally agreed to play for the Gambia. Salifu Senghore, Noah Sonko and Robin Utseth Björnholm Jatta are all ready to represent their ancestral home while former Manchester United player Saidy Janko still undecided about his future with the Scorpions but gave consent to be named in the list. He is currently back with his parent club FC Porto, who are again looking to loan him out. “These players are all Gambians, and some of them played in the local leagues before traveling to Europe, some via Senegal“. He further added to clarify that “We did not Select local based players because the league’s been off for six months, but most of these players in Europe played up till July and some have resumed now or already in training, so would you rather have a player who last played in July or someone who last played 6 months ago“.
Defender Pa Modou Jagne (Nda) who left FC Zurich at end of his contract last season and Yusupha Bobb are currently out of engagements but included in the 40 man provisional list.
Saintfiet disclosed that mid fielder Hamza Barry will not be available. “We will miss Hamza and he wont be back till at least March/April. However, we will have to adapt and find alternatives even though I would have preferred to have him. But before he joined us we had other players who played in that position and we surely have someone that can play there.”
