Gambia U20 coach Abdoulie Bojang says Gambians must rally behind his charges to help them to excel at the upcoming FIFA U20 World Cup to be held in Indonesia later this year.
This comes after Young Scorpions suffered a 2-0 defeat to Senegal in the final of the TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations played in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Saturday.
Gambia who came into the final against their neighbours with a 100% record of winning all their matches without conceding a goal but found themselves behind after six minutes at the Cairo International Stadium.
Young Teranga Lions forward Sulaymane Faye headed in a delivery from the right channel to beat the Young Scorpions custodian Pa Ebou Dampha.
RS Berkane midfielder Mamadou Camara headed in the winner ten minutes after the restart to secure Senegal their maiden TotalEnergies U-20 AFCON title.
Despite the disappointment of losing the final game of the tournament, Bojang insists his players must be encouraged following their gallant display in the competition.
“Congratulations to Senegal,” said Bojang. “My team put up a respectable performance but we conceded goals we could have avoided.
“We conceded a very early goal so chasing the game became difficult.
“We did some tactical changes and again they were very well organised at the defense and we found it very difficult to penetrate through the defense.”
The Young Teranga Lions limited their arch rivals in the Egyptian capital. The Young Scorpions struggled to create chances against the impressive Senegal side.
“We tried set pieces but unfortunately we couldn’t score,” Bojang said.
The Gambia will be making their second appearance at the FIFA U-20 World Cup later this year in Indonesia and the former Scorpions midfielder calls for more support.
“Let them still rally behind the team because it is a very good team, this is football one has to win.
“I think the team did very well in the last edition of the tournament. We won bronze and this time we won silver. The team is improving gradually so to maintain the team, let’s rally behind the team.”
The West Africans twice won bronze in 2007 and 2015 before claiming silver in the 23rd edition of the biennial tournament.
