A slick Gambia U-17 team made up of only high school boys yesterday trounced Guinea Bissau 4-1 in the first of two international friendlies the two teams would be involved in at Bakau’s Independence Stadium.
Abdoulie Bojang’s Baby Scorpions were just a beauty to watch and from start to finish was no match to the visiting side. They were slick in movement with a tiki-taka style of football that wasn’t seen at the Stadium for a very long time. It was indeed a delight to watch and even WAFU General Secretary Jammeh E.K. Bojang was entertained and spoke directly to the boys post-match.
“Gambian football is on the rise and we all have to admit that,” Bojang told the players in the dressing room. “Bakary [GFF First Vice President] said he saw an Ebrima Sohna in one of the boys but I can tell you that I also saw Sainey Nyassi in the Number 2 [Fakebba Jammeh].”
The two times African Champions took the lead on the quarter hour mark through striker Adama Bojang to send the Stadium into raptures. However, the home support was stunned when Guinea Bissau restored parity seven minutes later as Albino De Silva scored a beauty of a goal from 25 yards. It was a goal that even the home supporters and the VIPs at the Stadium clapped for.
However, the Gambians regained their lead four minutes to the break when Bojang grabbed his second as he smashed in a ferocious left foot shot on the rebound as the visiting keeper parried away the initial shot.
After the break, Lai Bojang’s charges continued to dominate the game, putting constant pressure on the Bissau Guineans defense as Essa Sallah, Malick Bojang and Ebrima Jeng put in dominant performances in midfield. The Baby Scorpions had the opportunity to extend their lead when they were awarded a penalty in 53rd minute but Fakebba Jammeh’s shot from 12 yards hit the underside of the bar and out for safety. Bissau were also awarded a penalty 20 minutes later but De Silva also hit the underside of the bar as Gambia preserved its lead.
That was the last time that the visitors came close to scoring a goal as the Baby Scorpions dominated from thereon until the end. Following a buildup play from the middle of the park, a great team goal was scored as Jammeh atoned for his earlier penalty miss to put the ball through the legs of the onrushing keeper in the 78th minute. Substitute Abdoulie Baldeh later controlled neatly in the area and was brought down for another penalty. He got and sends the keeper the wrong way to ensure an emphatic 4-1 win with nine minutes remaining.
“You are not yet stars and do not pretend to be stars,” Bakary K. Jammeh, the First Vice President of the GFF told the players in the traditional post-match visit to the team’s dressing room by the Federation’s officials.
The President of the GFF, Mr. Lamin Kaba Bajo described the players as national assets that the Federation will jealously safeguard. “There is no one here amongst you that haven’t played in the Principals Cup [a GFF sponsored national school football championship]. However, there are hundreds more at the Stadium today that would want to be in your positions and from today they will work hard to be part of the team. Thus, you should work very hard to maintain your positions.”
The Gambia’s greatest footballer of all time Biri Biri also addressed the players and said this is the first time that he has witnessed such a dominant performance by a Gambian team. He also hailed the GFF’s decision to embrace schools football as the way forward for our age category competitions.
Speaking in a post-match interview with reporters shortly after the impressive win, Coach Abdoulie Bojang said he was very impressed with both the performance and the win. “It is important as we are working on the developmental stages; if we win the first game with such performance I am happy. We were late to get into the game but if we win that is impressive, it shows that something has been started,” he said.
Bojang added that his primary objective is to develop the players. “Our primary objective is to develop these players technically, tactically, physically and mentally. We have been working for it to make sure that we develop them and if we play good football. I believe we will be able to win the game and it wasn’t a surprise to me because I have seen them play in test games with the U-23 just to look at their level and they were able to contain them and within 33 minutes we were satisfied with what we sure,” Bojang affirmed.
The General Secretary, Mr. Lamin M. Jassey, Martin Gomez, and Third Vice President Langtonbomg Tamba who is also responsible for grassroots football at Football House all addressed the players and admonished them to keep their feet on the ground.
The two sides will square off again on Monday 19th August, 2019, for the second and final friendly match between the two sides. Kickoff is slated for 6pm local time.
