Gambia’s Scorpions this evening takes on Sylli Nationale of Guinea Conkary in the first of two friendly international matches lined up for Tom Saintfiet’s charges in Morocco’s major economic city of Marrakech. The match will kick off at 6pm local time, the same time as back home in The Gambia.
The Scorpions, who are currently on an 11-day training camp in Morocco are lodged at the magnificent Adam Park Hotel & Spa, will also play the hosts in a second and final friendly on Wednesday 13th June, 2019 at the Stade de Marrakech at 6:30pm.
Speaking in an interview with the GFF official website, Tom Saintfiet said he is satisfied with the organisation of the camp and thanked the Federation for organising such a camp at a place with top infrastructure and a top hotel. He said he has no complains.
“Today we will have five players who have never been invited into the National Team of The Gambia that will play and three players of them are in the starting eleven who never played for the national team before. We have Saul Jobarteh from Sweden, Sheriff Sinyan and Sulayman Bojang from Norway who have never been called up and will start. A player like Ebrima Colley who is just 19 years old will also be in the starting eleven. It’s quite good, because we have some new players,” he said.
Mr. Saintfiet added that Guinea would be a tough match because they are head of us 95 places on the FIFA rankings and qualified for the AFCON, but noted that it is an opportunity to try new things to prepare for the next AFCON and World Cup qualifiers. “It’s always an honour to play for the national team whether a friendly or competition match and that’s the same feeling for me as a coach and the players. A good game against Guinea and Morocco can lead to a new contract for a big team for our players in Europe, so the game has a lot of advantages.”
The Coach has also put to bed the controversy surrounding the captaincy by confirming that Pa Modou Jagne is his Captain and would be assisted by Omar Colley. “I discussed the situation with both players and it’s clear that Pa Modou is the most senior and played longer with me so he is the first captain but if he doesn’t play then Omar Colley is the captain and Pa Modou doesn’t play today because he’s still recovering after his injury then Omar Colley is the captain for today,” he said.