Gambia’s rise to the round of 16 is one of the biggest surprises in the tournament so far, after occupying second place in its group and with the same number of points as the leader Malian team, while the Tunisian team finished third, and Mauritania bid Al-Kan after occupying fourth place, without collecting any points.
In the following report, “Sky News Arabia” discusses the reasons for the impressive appearance of the “Scorpions” team in the African Championship, in the following lines.
The journalist specializing in African football, Mohamed Abdelazim, says that the boom in the performance of the Gambian team during the recent period was behind the great Belgian coach, Tom Saintfeet.
Abdel Azim added in his speech to Sky News Arabia: “The Gambian Football Association contracted with the Belgian in 2018, and Saint-Feet started a European tour in order to convince any distinguished player in the old continent who has Gambian citizenship to join the African team at the expense of any other European country.”
And he continues, “The Belgian was the best choice for Gambia, because his experiences with the second-tier teams in Africa and Asia were the reason for its development more and more, even after his departure from it. And Stentveit confirmed in his first statements after assuming the technical leadership of Gambia that he will lead the team to participate in a major tournament, and this is what happened.” Indeed, reaching the Cannes for the first time in the history of the African national team.”
boarding trip
The Belgian managed to build a strong team, which was described by Stentveit in media statements, saying: “We have the best team, not the best players.. We are ready to compete with the top of the African continent.”
Gambia failed to qualify for the group stage of the African qualifiers for the World Cup, after losing at the hands of the Angolan team 3-1 in the two matches, to remain in front of the Belgian “African Nations” only in order to fulfill its promise.
Mohamed Abdelazim points out that the Gambia’s level in the African Nations qualifiers was a strong candidate to be the dark horse of the tournament.
And he added, “The (Al-Kan) qualifiers were not merciful in Gambia, as I collected them with the teams: Gabon, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, except for the Scorpion team, which slashed its teeth, and topped its group with 10 points, to ascend with Gabon to the Nations of Africa.”
The Gambia’s rise to the “Alkan” was returning it to the map of African football, after the most prominent information about the game’s fans about it was their late legend “Piri Berry”, who is considered by a large segment of the Gambian fans the most prominent player throughout their history.
It is worth noting that Momodu Njie, also known as Berry Berry, is a Gambian footballer who played on the right wing, and played for Seville in Spain and Hervévle Boldklub in Denmark, and he left our world in 2020.
dream difficulties
After qualifying for the African Nations, the Belgian coach, Tom Saintfeet, succeeded in making the most important achievement, which is planting a dream in the minds of his players, which was clearly shown during the statements of the captain of the Gambian team, and the player of Italian club Sampdoria, Omar Kouley, to “BBC”.
“Every time there is a surprising team in the African Championship, this time we hope it will be Gambia.. Saintfeet motivates us a lot and always points out that we are the best footballing generation for Gambia in its history,” said Cooley.
In order to motivate the Gambian team to ascend to the nations of Africa, they were promised a financial reward amounting to 11 million Gambian dalasi (approximately $215,000), but after the historic qualification, the Scorpion players did not receive the reward, which caused a major crisis, which amounted to a refusal. Gambian national team interview with President Adama Barrow.
The Belgian coach commented on this crisis, saying: “For the players, playing in Gambia was never about money in the first place. Instead, it was always about raising the country’s flag higher and making the Gambian people proud.. But the team feels that respect The motivation given to the players is less than it is supposed to be, so the players unanimously decided to reject the Gambian president’s invitation, the idea of footing is a motivational game that always needs support in order to continue.”
Before the African Nations Championship, the Gambian team received a painful blow during its camp in Qatar, as the team announced that 16 players in the team’s ranks were infected with the Corona virus, along with 5 administrators, which led to the cancellation of two friendlies for Gambia against both the Algerian and Syrian teams.
Circumstances separated the Gambia team and the dream of appearing as a black horse in the African Nations, but the Belgian Stentveit was confident in the ability of his battalion led by Italian Bologna striker, Moussa Barrow, to write a history of a special kind, which happened by advancing to the last eight of the tournament with a group that includes: Tunisia, Mali and Mauritania.
According to the Transfer Market website, the total marketing value of Gambian players is approximately 42 million pounds, with an average age of 26 years, and “Scorpions” occupies the 150th place in the FIFA international classification.
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