An experimental Gambian side made light work of African Cup of Nations finalists Guinea Conakry with a 1-0 defeat of the Sylli Nationale in an international friendly match played in Marrakech, Morocco this evening.
Scorpions Coach Tom Saintfiet used the game as an opportunity to experiment other players in real match situations by choosing to give new players the opportunity to play from the start and in the end a total of seven players who had never played for The Gambia were able to make their debuts against Paul Put’s Guinea.
The Saint has been criticized for selecting to stick with Ebrima Sohna and Mamadou Futty Danso, who have been unattached at club level for six months, but on the account of the matches they played under the Belgian, especially the most recent two, it would be difficult, if not impossible, for any coach to overlook them even if they are clubless. Against Algeria in the last match day of the AFCON qualifiers, Futty ran from the back to score a stoppage time equaliser in Blida and it was Sohna who was at hand to score the only goal that condemned Guinea to a shocking defeat against The Gambia.
The former Sandefjord enforcer wasn’t even included in the starting eleven but an ankle injury to debutant Saul Jobarteh forced Tom into an early substitution after just 20 minutes and he turned to the experience of Sohna who hassled the Guinean players all game before capping off a brilliant performance with a striker’s finish 20 minutes after his entrance following some beautiful interchange of passes between the Gambian players.
The Coach has now given the players the whole of tomorrow off to cool down and change environment before they resume the hard work with a training session beginning Sunday as they prepare for Wednesday’s second and final match for them against Morocco at the Stade de Marrakech starting at 6:30pm Gambian time.