By: Pa Barrow
The head coach of The Gambia U-23 team, Abdou Jammeh, has finally named a solid and balanced squad for their double preliminary qualifiers against Burkina Faso.
He announced after the team’s final training session at the Independence Stadium in Bakau, where they won their last test game by 2-1 against a selection of divisional players.
The team comprised twelve (12) foreign-based players and twelve (12) home-based players plying their trade in The Gambia Football Federation Division One League. The core of the professional players invited by the coach include players among The Gambia U-20 that won the WAFU championship played in Senegal in 2020.
They include midfield maestro Lamarana Jallow of Sporting CP in Portugal, Wally Fofana of KVC Westerlo in Belgium, Momodou Bojang of Hibernian Scotland, and a host of others.
The former scorpion captain and now the head coach of the U-23 team, Abdou Jammeh (T-Boy), is optimistic about qualifying the team from the preliminary rounds to the qualifiers.
“The team is in perfect shape, technically and tactically, and I have a good time with the core of players. They understand my philosophy very well, and even the foreign players who did not have the chance to join us initially have an idea of what we want. I was in constant conversations with them so they could know my philosophy,” He told Alkamba Times Sports.
“We want to play good football, and they all understand how we will play perfectly. I will have time to physically work with the newcomers when we reach Cotonou. So far, I’m thrilled with the team”, Jammeh, a former national team player, said.