By Arfang M.S. Camara
The Gambia will begin its quest for a maiden place in the African Cup of Nations for local-based players with a double-legged qualifier against Guinea Bissau following the draw at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, yesterday, Thursday.
The first leg of the qualifier will be played in Gambia between the weekend of 22nd, 23rd and 24th July 2022 with the return leg in Bissau between 29th, 30th, and 31st July.
The winner over the two legs faces Mauritania for a place in Algeria and that begins on the weekend of 26th, 27th, and 28th August and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th September 2022.
Alhagie Sarr, head Coach of The Gambia CHAN team, said that it was fair for The Gambia to be drawn against Guinea Bissau and later Mauritania.
“I think the draw is fair for us because we want to go to Algeria. I think we are going to have a good preparation match against Guinea Bissau, then later against Mauritania and progress to the tournament proper.”
Coach Sarr added that they were waiting for the draw and were ready to face any team that they drew against.
“We played a test game against Guinea Bissau the last time and it was good for us. Now we are going to start preparing for the qualifiers against Guinea and Mauritania.”
According to him, they trained and screened players for about two weeks to come up with the team just for Senegal’s friendly, adding that the June 10th test game will help to know their weaknesses in the team and improve on them.
The Local based team popularly known for their sobrique CHAN would now continue their training on Wednesday morning with Assistant Coach Sheikh Adama Joof taking the lead in training before Sarr’s return from the Senior National Team duties to South Sudan and before then a technical training Camp in UAE.
