Gambia senior national (Scorpions) is currently intensifying training in Doha, Qatar ahead of their maiden Africa Cup of nations which begins on 9 January in Cameroon.
Despite the setback that forced the Gambia national team to cancel their two preparatory games against Algeria and Syria, Tom Saintfiet’s mood is still high and he’s engaging the boys in technical and physical build up in training.
Speaking in an interview at the team’s base in Qatar, Tom Saintfiet, head coach of The Gambia senior national team who updated the public from Qatar training camp said that at this moment almost no one got infected in Qatar, adding that most of their people got infected in their local bases in Gambia and Italy.
“This means that the majority of our players and staff got infected in Gambia. We have one person who got infected in Italy and there was no person that got infected in Qatar.”
He said that it is a wrong notion from people that his players got infected with Covid-19 in Qatar, adding that Qatar is not a hotspot and that most of his players and staff got infected at their local bases in Gambia and Italy.
“We asked CAF whether we can replace some of our people who got infected with Covid-19, but the answer was no. They said there are 28 people and that there must be an alternative from the number.”
He added that: “If this still remains to be the case, it could be a catastrophe because all my staff and players who are part of the group want to be in the Afcon but according to the current rule, we are not allowed to replace anybody in the final list of 28-man squad.”
When asked about which players are currently available at that time of the interview, he said that it was a bit too early to say because they have several players who tested positive and seven who are reactive, adding that they also have players who could not travel on time such as Yusupha Njie, Steve Trawally, Nuha Sonko, Saidy Janko, amongst others.
He added that they currently have a lot of doubts, noting that some players might not be available for the first match due to injury.
According to him, they were supposed to do another test as of yesterday, Tuesday noting that that they are hoping to get their people negative so that they can return to Banjul and travel back to the Afcon on time.
Meanwhile, The Gambia will be making their first appearance in Africa’s most prestigious tournament for the first time in 69 years.
The Scorpions will open their campaign against Mauritania on 12th January 2022.