The head coach of the senior national team of The Gambia, Coach Sang Ndong has spoken exclusively to Observer Sports about his side’s preparations ahead of the two upcoming games against Zambia and South Africa.
The Scorpions will play an international friendly at home against the Chipolopolo of Zambia next Monday at 7pm before hosting the Bafana Bafana of South Africa in the AFCON 2017 qualifier in Group M on 4th June at the Independence stadium in Bakau.
The preparation, he told this medium yesterday (Thursday) afternoon has been going on since the beginning of this month (May) with the local-based players. “We are still working on the possibilities of getting our professionals for the games against Zambia and South Africa. We are still preparing and getting to the final stage.”
As to how important is the international friendly against the Chipolopolo of Zambia next Monday, Coach Sang Ndong said such games is very important in rebuilding process as it would help him to assess the individual goodness of the players. “The more games we get the better opportunity it will give us [the Coaches] to identify and see these players better, but based on trainings only it is not enough to assess these players; so this game it is very important and one step in our preparation for the game against South Africa on 4th June, which is going to be a very difficult game,” he told Observer Sports.
As to why Zambia for the friendly, the former Gambian international player said the team had an invitation to play a game in Cosovo next Sunday, but all of a sudden Cosovo got accepted in the UEFA and it would have required another process to have the game.
Gambians are expecting to see some of the foreign-based players for the two matches and when asked about the availability of the professionals, Sang Ndong who will unveil his squad today (Friday) morning at the GFF Secretariat confirmed that some foreign-based players will come for the games. He, however declined to disclosed who these professionals will be at the time of the interview.
The performance of the local-based players in the last two games in Nouakchott and Banjul against Mauritania stunned fans and some even went to suggest for the Coach to give more attention to local lads. Coach Sang Ndong maintained that it is still a good opportunity for all the players to continue proving themselves as they are competing with players playing in ‘higher leagues’. “It is all about individual performance that matters here and it is an open fight for all players. So we will continue with the blending.”
Sang Ndong and charges were on Wednesday held to a 1-1 draw by Real de Banjul in a test game played at the Independence Stadium in Bakau. He described it as a good test for the team and called on the general public to come out in numbers to support and cheer the team in the upcoming two matches.
The Gambian side lies at the bottom of Group M with 2 points and South Africa has 3 points.
by Alieu Ceesay