The Gambia female national under 20 team began their under 20 World Cup qualifiers with a narrow one-nil defeat against the visiting Burkina Faso Under 20 team at the Independence Stadium.
The host created and squandered their chances and were punished by Adel Naomie Kabore’s 77th-minute goal which was all but enough for the visitors to secure a one-nil will against the Queen scorpions of the Gambia in the first leg.
Even behind closed doors the Gambian girls were impressive throughout and could have been two goals ahead at halftime.
Fatoumata Jammeh first received a lovely true pass from captain Haddy Wally but the young winger was denied in a one-on-one situation by Burkina Faso goalkeeper Mariam Ouattara and at the stroke of halftime Gambian centre forward Teddy Sirreh Jatta agonizingly saw her goal-bound attempt hit the woodwork as the first period ended goalless.
The Junior Queen Scorpions started the second half as they did in the first half, with the mesmeric Fatoumata Jammeh asking a lot of questions from the Burkina Faso defence and both captain Haddy Wally and Fatoumata Erma Mook forced a save off the Burkina custodian.
However, the Burkina side who appeared to be ahead of the Gambia technically, continue to stay organized and they relied on one quick attack to punish the host as Adel Naomie Kabore capitalized on the Gambia defenders failure to clear their line and smashed into the top roof to earned the visitors a vital one-nil win.
Coach Foday Bah of the Gambian team said he had mixed feelings at the end.
“Am not happy with the result but am happy with the performance. We dominated and created many chances that’s positive”, he said.
“This is the first time I played a competitive game with these girls, that will greatly help me to better prepare for the return leg”, Bah added.
Burkina Faso head coach Pascal Sawadogo hailed the performance of his girls. ” The game was very open, the girls were composed and they capitalised on one of the two chances to decide the game, which is good.” He said.
The junior Queen Scorpions will clash with Burkina Faso On the 7th of October 2021 in Cotonou, Benin for the return leg.
