WAFU Zone A U20 Champions have begun their preparations ahead of the Afcon U20 tournament Mauritania 2021 with a warm up game to Brikama United on Friday night at the Box Bar.
The test match came in a day after the Young Scorpions regrouped since gaining championship crown at Thies, Senegal.
Mattar Mboge’s charges approached the game in an average tempo to a formidable League Division One side Brikama United gaining bulk of possession in the first half. The Young Scorpions displayed promising performance while the combination of Lamarana Jallow, Kajally Drammeh, Wally Fofana and Alieu Barry teamed up their fine run of form with clear cut chances although Ba Lamin Sowe’s smart pass to a running Wally Fofana on the left wing could have opened the scoring for the national side when he out footed a coiling cross to Kajally Drammeh at the edge of the box connecting to a waiting Adama Kanteh.
Hosts Brikama United maintained their tempor avoiding hesitancy at goal to the delight of the cheering crowd while the visitors later took off Adama Kanteh for Tijan Marr to make amends before the break but it remains goal less.
The second stanza wasn’t quite different showing great display from both teams as they effected substitutions and game changing styles but all went nil at full time.
Mattar M’Boge introducd three new faces to beef up the depth of the team. Defender Alagie Saine was introduced during the proceedings and was found to be a good addition to the squad and thus Mboge hailed his performance amongst the others as promising as part of the Afcon U20 preparations for the Young Scorpions.
Speaking at the end of game, a delightful Coach Mattar M’Boge was full of praise for his team’s hard work on and off the pitch. He expressed satisfaction about the comportment of the boys and display after 39 days of recess. ‘I am very impressed with what I saw because my focus on test matches is not with the results but to assess how much they’ve learnt from our training sessions and again they’ve shown that”. He said playing to a formidable League One side is an advantage to his team even though “It’s difficult to be a champion and playing another strong team like Brikama United after just a single day of training but this was also good for us because there is not so much time left for the AFCON and we need to be strong enough to challenge champions at Mauritania”.
M’Boge also expressed delight in inviting three new players to the team noting that the invitation isn’t exhaustive as others could still be invited.
The WAFU Zone A award wining Coach highlighted that this is just the beginning of his intensive weeks of training plans which could include an international training camp ahead of the tournament next month.
