Many Scorpions’ fans are already gearing up for their team’s Group D Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Gabon in November.
Some fans have expressed their hopes of beating Gabon to keep alive hopes for their side’s maiden Afcon qualification.
Initially, the third and fourth round of matches for the 2021 Afcon were slated for March before the coronavirus pandemic forced the postponement.
Last week, the Confederation of African Football’s emergency committee approved the resumption dates for the qualifiers- It resumes on 9-17 November 2020 whilst the penultimate and ultimate matches takes place on 22-30 March 2021.
The Gambia resumes the qualifiers with an away trip to Libreville where they will face the Gabonese Panthers in the first leg.
In reaction to the resumption, some Scorpions’ fans are bullish on the team’s chances to win Gabon and qualify for Cameroon.
Tom Saintfeit’s charges currently leads Group D on 4 points, joint with Gabon but on a better goal difference +2. DR Congo and Angola stands on 3rd and 4th with the latter on zero point.
“The Gambia football Federation should ensure that the team starts preparation as soon as possible, “says Ousainou Gaye, a scorpion fan. “This is our turn to qualify but we shouldn’t wait too long to start the preparations because we need to be prepared in order qualify. Gabon is strong side, but we can survive them.”
Ismaila Jobarteh, another fan, expects the scorpions’ to put up a fight saying, “leading the group doesn’t mean qualification. We shouldn’t be carried away yet by our current position. “It’s going to be difficult tie, but we can win and we should win convincingly if we want to be in Cameroon and I am confident we will qualify.”
Heightened by the increasing prominence of Gambian players across Europe, Samba Sarr, another fan believes the Scorpions could be on the brink of history. “The coach has a pool of hugely talented players to pick for all these games, “he told The Chronicle. “If the rightful players are invited, we can get through. I want to believe that the coach has been monitoring all of them because we have a lot of them doing well across Europe and they can do history.”
Alasan Faye said, “The coach should review his plans for the qualifiers and have everything afresh. “We have new stars that emerged during the course of the year and they were not in the coach’s plan during the last games, I think they should be included, “he said. “The likes of Musa Juwara and Ansu Fatty should be considered for this crucial moment.”
The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations was supposed to be hosted by Cameroon on June 30th, but was moved to January 2022, and will end in February, after Covid-19 disrupted the global football calendar.
Likewise, the calendar for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers was also adjusted and the match days one and two will now be held between May 31 and June 15 in 2021.