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What started as a story of inconsistency over the years has now turned into stability and a possible reason to dream for the Scorpions as they have come all the way into the quarterfinals of the AFCON 2021. Dating back in 1975, they took part in their first ever qualification campaign for the Africa Cup of Nations but failed to reach the 1976 finals in Ethiopia after a humiliating 6-0 aggregate defeat to Morocco.
In May 2014, Gambia was banned from CAF competitions for two years after deliberately falsifying players’ ages. As a result, Africa’s smallest mainland nation missed out on a chance of qualifying for the 2015 AFCON. In 2019, they almost broke the jinx. They came so close to qualifying for their maiden competition after finishing four points behind second place Benin, in a qualification round they drew twice with heavyweights Algeria.
Talent has never been their problem. In 2005, Gambia hosted the Under-17 AFCON and won it on home soil.
This time round they have enjoyed one of the most spectacular debuts in the history of the Africa cup of Nations reaching the quarter-finals in their maiden appearance.
After finally ending a long wait to feature at the Nations Cup, The Scorpions navigated a sequence of testing fixtures en-route to reaching the quarterfinals and will certainly look at their past games with great pride.
The statistics back up the assessment. Drawn in Group F of the delayed Nations Cup, The Gambia finished second on the logs with 7 points from three games unbeaten. They edged Mauritania 1-0 to earn their first ever win, drew with Mali (1-1) and beat Tunisia (1-0) to seal a spot to the knock-out stage.
Their heads did not drop as they eliminated Guinea to reach the last 8. In a blink of an eye, The Gambia has won three of their four AFCON games scoring 4 goals and conceding just once.
Gambia has produced some tactically brilliant displays and few teams have been able to match them for quality. Questions have been asked how a team that once looked doomed in the past, now seems increasingly capable to mount an unlikely title chase in a competition that provided them with dark moments.
They have three more hurdles to go past before they can claim the tournament victory.
Cherno Badja, a coach in Gambia and member of the country’s football players association believes the Scorpions are driven by the desire to improve and can do the unthinkable.
“It’s beyond our wildest dreams being here, given the poor preparations we had before the tournament. But we are very happy and now we believe that we can go all the way and bring the trophy home,” Badja said.
One of stars the Scorpions hold is Bologna forward Musa Barrow who has managed 18 games, 5 goals and 3 assists in the Serie A. He has also replicated the same form for Gambia scoring 2 goals in 4 games.
The team holds other talents like Ebrima Darboe, Omar Colley (who is country’s most capped player), Pa Modou Jagne among others.
Gambia play Cameroon next in the quarters, but can they defeat the hosts and subsequently go on to win the championship on their debut?
There has been a lot of questions about the COVID incidents whenever the hosts, Indomitable Lions are set to battle their oppositions in their four games.
They have been free from the pandemic before all their previous games unlike their opponents who have endured several case just ahead of the games.
But back to the field, no player has been involved in more goals and assists at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations than Vincent Aboubakar (7).
The Cameroonian forward has found the back of the net on six different occasions, becoming the first player in the 21st century to score more than five goals in a single AFCON edition. The Al-Nasr forward also one assist to his name and is making a strong claim for the ‘Player of The Tournament’ already.
The closest to him in the top-scorer chart is teammate Karl Toko Ekambi and Gabadinho Mhango of Malawi, both with three goals.
Coming up against Gambia, the 30-year-old has the potential to add to his tally and get his side going as the hosts continue to cruise to the final.
Away from the striking options, one can also keep an eye on their other strength that is the midfield where Frank Zambo Anguissa has played in all games so far at the competition, bossing the midfield and making himself huge in the middle of the park for the Indomitable Lions.
Vision, passing and interceptions have all been part of his game and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him continue such momentum against the Scorpions at the Japoma Stadium. This will definitely be a key decider for this game.
There will also never be such a crucial game without a look at the performances of the goalkeeper. Andre Onana after a long absence from the game has returned to action for the national team. Although he is yet to keep any clean sheet but has made some good saves for the Indomitable Lions, which has brought them this far in the competition.
The 25-year-old manages 3.5 saves per game, which is about 78% of the shots faced. He is expected to be crucial for Cameroon on Saturday.
