Gambia’s Young Scorpions will be hoping for a place in the quarter finals of the Total U-20 Africa Cup of Nations when they face Ghana’s Black Satellites in Nouadhibou on Monday.
The 2007 bronze medalists Gambia sit third in Group C with a lone point ahead of their must-win match against Ghana who top the group on four points.
Mattar M’Boge’s charges gave away the lead against Tanzania in the last minute to share points following their narrow defeat to Morocco in the first match.
“There’s still 90 minutes left for us so we’re going to concentrate on Ghana now, said Gambia coach M’Boge.
“What we saw before the tournament that this will be the group of death, I think we’re seeing it now in the games. We’re looking forward to this last game against Ghana. It is our last opportunity to make sure that we get the points and try to qualify.”
Meanwhile, the Black Satellites will go into the match without much pressure after their results in the first two matches.
They can still make the knockout stages with a defeat against the Young Scorpions depending on other results.
Coach Abdul Karim Zito will be seeking to top his group and stay in Nouadhibou for the quarterfinals.
“The bottom line is we want to qualify and that is the most important thing,” Zito said. “We hope to beat Gambia and qualify to the quarter finals on top of the group.”
What they said:
Abdul Karim Zito (Coach, Ghana)
In the group everybody can qualify. We were lucky we had four goals against Tanzania, which sends us to the top of the group. Every team wants to finish top of the group, because of that everyone will be fighting so this is a must win match for Ghana. Wanting to be at the top is our priority and we’re going all out.
Daniel Barnieh (Forward, Ghana)
The coach sent us to the beach to refresh our mind and body, and he spoke to us well and as you can see in our training everything is hard and we’re determined to win.
Mattar M’Boge (Coach, Gambia)
We decided to try to go for the win, for us it’s a clear objective, and then potentially at the final whistle we can sort of see where we are. We know the other game would be very tough. I’ve made the message to our players to show the world and Africa that Gambia there’s lots of talent.
Kajally Drammeh (Forward, Gambia)
We’re very prepared for this game. We’re going all out to get the three points against Ghana. We want to win and make the last eight of the competition.
The other Group C game between Morocco and Tanzania in Nouakchott will kick off simultaneously as the game at the Stade Municipal Nouadhibou.
The games are scheduled to kick off at 7:00pm.
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