The Gambian international goalkeeper Ebrima Jarju spoke to Alkamba Times on his 100th appearances for Paide, their comeback to finish 3rd in the Estonian league as he further touched on his clean sheets, awards, and national team journey.
A century of appearance
Jarju joined national teammates in achieving the feat of representing a single club with over 100 appearances on Saturday.
“It was amazing; it was a great feeling. We had fun with the fans after the game. Playing 100 games for Paide is a big achievement, especially for a goalkeeper from Africa. I am happy after working so hard over the years, and special thanks to the coaching department that put their faith and trust in me by fielding me in every game.” He stated
Various clean sheets
Jarju saved four penalties in the league and was named in the team of the week on six different occasions. He had six clean sheets in the last eight games for country and club.
“Five in a row is a positive and a big motivation for me in the upcoming games against Comoros and Tunisia. What I was calculating as a player was the points might be tight and it will come down to goal difference. I was concentrating a lot on the training ground, keeping a clean sheet to give myself confidence for the weekend matches.”
Awards
Apart from the two trophies won at Paide, Jarju has now won back-to-back player of the season; the 2023 Premium Liiga Goalkeeper of the win the coveted award of Paide Player of the Year.
” I work so hard personally; it’s fully deserved. When people were sleeping, I was working so hard. This is a motivation that shows only hard work pays off. You always want to see your results, and such awards are the results.”
Finishing third in the league
“Believe is the key factor, as Paide secured a bronze spot for the third time in the club’s history, which eventually sent them to the preliminary rounds of the Europa League. Paide have reached the play-off stage twice, losing to Anderlecht and BK Häcken.”
“The last two games of Levadia were against Kalju (4-0) and Flora (4-2). Levadia’s form saw them beat the top five and were unbeaten in nine games. Many wrote us off, and our fans were surprised that we could beat the champions. I personally knew the difference between us and Levadia was not much. It was down to mentality; we didn’t have the mentality in our previous games. The 3-0 win against the Champions was a good performance from the whole of the team.
It looks like the European spot was slipping out of our hands; we had injuries, and results were not coming our way. The gap was like 12 points. Once the players returned from injury and signed players, things returned to normality, the confidence started coming back, and we started to win games. We all believed we could do it until we levelled points with 2nd place. We kept fighting after looking for this chance, so many times we believe Saturday’s match was the perfect opportunity. We made sure we left everything on the pitch. Overall, our strong bond gave us the results.”
National Team
Jarju came to the national team setup in 2023, when he was on the bench against Chad in the preliminary rounds of the AFCON 2023 qualification. Jarju returned eight months later but remained understudy for Baboucarr Gaye and Shiekh Sibi as the Gambia drew 0-0 against Guinea-Bissau in Turkey. Jarju made his national team debut in August 2024 against the Seychelles and went on to make four appearances so far, including a clean sheet against Madagascar.
“Every player that plays abroad always likes to represent his country; the opportunity is in my hands; therefore, I will just put on the work rate and keep the level to make my country proud.”
“It has always been my dream to represent the Gambia and even become one of the first to qualify the Gambia for the AFCON. I grew up dreaming of playing AFCON; it didn’t happen as the Gambia went to the 2021 and 2023 AFCON without me, but now I want to experience AFCON because every player wants to play in the competition. I am praying we qualify.”
Paide will be back in action for the final game of the year when they face FC Kuressaare on November 23rd in the round of 16 of the Estonian Cup and Jarju is already eyeing the trophy.
“We want to win the Cup game; it’s the priority of the club to always win it.”
