By Aja Beyai
In a clash of West African titans, Senegal’s Teranga Lions roared to a 3-1 victory over The Gambia in a friendly match at the Stade Abdoulaye Wade in Dakar. The game, a display of Senegal’s attacking prowess, saw them dominate in the last the minutes of the first half. The Gambia, against all odds, delivered an incredible performance.
The match saw Senegal dominate from the start, with Abdoulaye Seck heading in a corner kick in added time of the first half to break the deadlock. The Lions doubled their lead just one minute into the second half, thanks to Ebrima Mbaye’s stunning goal.
Gambia’s Omar Colley pulled one back with a header from a corner kick in the 51st minute, giving hope to visitors. However, Senegal sealed their win with Lamin Camara’s goal in the 94th minute after a very tense encounter where Gambia created couple of chances to equalize but couldn’t capitalize unfortunately.
The match was a testament to Senegal’s strength, with The Gambia putting up a good fight despite being ranked 104 places below their opponents.
“We actually watched the replay of it back at halftime to see what happened,” said Gambia’s Head Coach Johnathan McKinstry. “And they do a very good blocking job on Alagie Saine. We know they like to block off markers and they do a good job at just giving Alagie a little nudge as he’s trying to track his man, meaning the goal scorer was free. So it’s actually very good from Senegalese point of view.”
Senegal’s Head Coach Pape Thiaw was pleased with his team’s performance, highlighting their experimentation with different systems. “There are a lot of things that can work,” he said. “That’s why I would say that the pre-matches are used for that. When we looked at this match, we tried three systems, including 4-4-2, which we saw at the end with Bamba under Habib. And then at the beginning we tried 3-4-3. There were things that were good, but there were also good moves.”
McKinstry added, “In the last few minutes, you try and throw it all out. And sometimes it works. And sometimes it ends up 3-1. I don’t think it was a 3-1 game. .”
Thiaw concluded, “As I said, now we’re going to the World Cup. And in the World Cup, you also have to be armed for the plans, because you never know what you need to put in place during and against the match. And if the players understand, it can become easier afterwards.”
