The Gambia’s quest to qualify for a third African U-20 Championship in Zambia will start in Sierra Leone after the draw for the 20th edition of the African Youth Championship was held in Cairo, Egypt, yesterday.
The Young Scorpions, coached by Omar Sise, will play away to its West African rivals in the first leg of the preliminary rounds in Freetown between April 1 and 3 with the return match in Banjul between the 22nd and 24th of April. The winner of the tie will meet Morocco, who were given a bye in the preliminaries, in the second round.
The winner of the first round will host the first leg of the second round tie between May 20 and 22 with the return match in Rabat between June 10 and 12. The winner of that tie will entertain either Ivory Coast or Liberia and Guinea Conakry in the final round. Guinea and Liberia will meet in the preliminaries.
The Gambia secured its first ever place in the competition in Congo Brazzaville in 2007, under the guidance of Peter Bonu Johnson and on that occasion, it defeated both Sierra Leone and Morocco in the qualifiers. The Young Scorpions who also participated at the 2007 World Youth Championship in Canada took part in its second and so far last U-20 Nations Cup in South Africa 2011 where it failed to get past the group stages. The third round qualifiers will be played in July this year. The tournament will be hosted by Zambia in 2017.
Reacting to the news in an Observer Sports interview yesterday, Omar Sise the National U-20 Coach said the hard work begins now, adding that the qualifiers wouldn’t be easy. He cautioned against underestimating any opponent.
“We want to qualify to Zambia so therefore we must prepare very well for the qualifiers. Our opponents will be respected very well but we are not afraid of any team; we will fight to the end. We have the material to qualify the team. Even though I understand Morocco is preparing very well for the qualifiers and is currently camped in France, but and we will also have our own preparations and in the 90 minutes of any football game, we are not afraid of any opponent,” Sise reaffirmed.