GAM FOOTBALL NEWS:

The Gambia’s U20 Coach Matarr A Mboge and his players are set leave Banjul later today for the Liberian capital Monrovia for the 2018 U20 WAFU Cup tournament, which kicks off tomorrow, Tuesday 24th April 2018, at the Samuel K Doe Stadium in Monrovia, where the hosts Liberia will raise the curtain against Cape Verde.

The squad which is expected to arrive in Liberia today ahead of their first game against Guinea Conakry’s U20s on Wednesday evening, at 6pm local time, has been largely assembled with players  from the Gambia’s top Division clubs. The likes Real de Banjul, Hawks, Gamtel, Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) and Brikama United along with others from lower tier sides Wallidan and Banjul United.  The group also includes three other foreign-based players,  the team’s captain Basirou Mbye, who plays for FC Lokeren in the Belgian top tier league and the duo from Senegalese side Stade de Mbour  Mustapha Drammeh and compatriot Ousman Gai.

The Real De Banjul players in the squad include the defensive duo, Muhammed Sanneh and James Gomez . The two have been regulars this season for the 12 time Gambian league champions who have recently closed the gap at the top of the First Division League to five points after six straight wins in the second half of the season. Both have a great deal of experience in the top tier football and should bring some needed experience to the young team. Muhammed who plays across the back and in midfield recently returned from a two-week trial with Danish top tier side FC Midtjylland where he impressed club officials. He was Real de Banjul’s match winner against Steve Biko in Week 17 of the GFF Division One.

One notable absentee though, is the young Gambian forward, Gaira Joof who has shown remarkable progress since his move to Israel with the Israeli First Division side Bnei Yehuda, who have sent him out on loan to second tier side, Hapoel Nir Ramat HaSharon FC, where he had fared in 26 games, scoring 4 goals this season. But despite this, for whatever reason, Gaira has been overlooked by the Gambia’s football authorities and having spoken to him last week he said he has never been contacted by any one from the national team set-ups not even the U20s, for whom, at 20 years of age, he is eligible to play for at this WAFU tournament, and this is a player who has shown great promise even before leaving The Gambia, where, at barely 17, he had helped Fortune FC to gain Division Two promotion, and he was one of the best players at the 2016 Super Nawettan ( Zonal Tournament) for Serekunda West, which led to him being spotted by scouts for the Israeli side. Gaira’s got all the attributes to become a top player for both club and country. he has pace, skills, power and an eye for goal, and that’s what makes his snub by Matarr Mboge and other national team coaches a bit ironic. At least getting in contact with him and acknowledging his development as a player, while reassuring him about his chances for future consideration providing he continues his development will not be a bad idea.

Although the names on the squad were released last Thursday by Head Coach Mboge at a press conference at the GFF Secretariat in Kanifing, most of the players have been taking part in the training camps organised by the former U17 coach at the National Technical Training Centre in Yundum, where an initial 25 players were invited back in December 2017 to train together, and have since held a number of other sessions including test matches against some first Division teams, the likes of Brikama Utd, Real De Banjul, Gamtel and Gambia Ports Authority (GPA) , whom they beat 3-2 last Friday, with goals from captain Basirou Mbye and the team’s Vice Captain Saikou Touray of Marimoo FC alongside an own goal from a GPA player, which secured the victory. The team had also faced Hawks FC, whom they faced for the second time last Saturday at the Independence Stadium in Bakau.

Speaking at last Thursday’s press conference, Mboge explained the reasons behind the training camps and his satisfaction with the team ahead of the tournament which he said could be a good warm-up for them ahead of the up-coming African youth Cup of Nations qualifiers against Benin in May.

‘The first phase of the training took off at the end of December where we invited 25 players. The basic purpose was to identify the players, said the U20 Coach before elaborating on the importance of the test games they had played against the Divisional teams. ‘These are very important test games for us because the results were positive’.

He also said the WAFU tournament is a good place to test themselves to prepare for the qualifiers against Benin later next month, saying:‘ I think I will thank WAFU for the opportunity they have just made to us’.

In his own statement, the team’s Captain Basirou Mbye also expressed his delight to be included in the team. ‘I am very proud to wear the national colours of my country and to be invited by the Gambia. The team is social to me and everyone is talking about the tournament and we share a lot of things together’.

The WAFU tournament is organised by the West Africa Football Union and will involve eight teams from the West African block, including hosts Liberia. The teams have been divided in two groups, with Liberia, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone in Group A, while the Gambia joins the likes of Senegal, Mali and Guinea Conakry in Group B.

The Gambia were knocked out of the last tournament in controversial circumstances by the hosts Ghana, who scored from the spot after Burkina Faso’s Boukari Ouedraogo adjudged a Gambian player had handled the ball and awarded a penalty to the Ghanaians, which proved to be the decider and to the fury of the Gambian officials including the GFF President Lamin Kabba Bajo, who at the time threatened they were considering the Gambia’s position in the competition. That followed another incident involving the Gambian side in 2015,  when the team  decided to pull-out of the final of the tournament in Mbour, Senegal, in another controversy, after being angered by the officials who gave them a wrong information playing extra-time. They said they were told there will be no extra-time played at the end of 90 minutes, only to be told while the game was on that the match will instead have to go to added times before a penalty shootout, which infact was what was in the rules.

 Gambian Squad list and Officials:

GOAL KEEPERS:
Yankuba Colley ( Hawks )
Ebrima Cham ( GAMTEL )

DEFENDERS:
Pa Ousman Gai ( Stade De Mbour, Senegal )
Muhammed SANNEH ( Real De Banjul )
Sadi Gaye ( Wallidan )
Habibou Mendy ( Brikama Utd )
James Gomez ( Real De Banjul )
Modou NDOW ( Wallidan )
LAMIN Conteh ( GPA )

FORWARDS:
Adama Jammeh ( GAF )
Basirou Mbye ( KSC Lokeren, Belgium )
Abdoulie Sarr ( Banjul Utd )
14Mattar Badjie ( Hawks )
15Mustapha Drammeh ( Stade De Mbour, Senegal

OFFICIALS;
Matarr Mboge – Head Coach
Assistant Coaches – Alhagi Marong, Yahya Manneh
Team Medic – Karamo B Touray
Kit Manager – Mustapha Kassama
Team Manager – Ousman Drammeh
Head of Delegation – Rtd Lieutenant Gen. Lang Tombong Tamba