- Senegal plays Gambia in the AFCON U20 final
- Their seniors have won both the AFCON and CHAN
- Gambia are playing their first ever final
Senegal faces Gambia in the final of the Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations and look to emulate their seniors who have recently dominated African football. They won their first ever Africa Cup of Nations title in Cameroon last year and in January, won the Africa Nations Championship. They are also the Beach Soccer AFCON champions.
And now, their Under 20 team is looking to emulate this same path and win their AFCON junior title, as they prepare to face neighbors Gambia in Egypt on Saturday night.
Head coach Malick Daf says they are motivated to go all out and win, and says his team know what is needed to bag the coveted title.
“We are expecting a great game tomorrow. Our goal is to win this game. Despite the greatness and talent of the Gambian team. We will try to beat them. We have already practiced on the pitch, we know each other well. We prepared to come and play and win,” the coach said ahead of the match.
Senegal edged the Young Scorpions in the final of the WAFU-A qualifying tournament last year with captain Samba Diallo scoring the only goal. They will look to complete a double.
“We always want to win; we are prepared to come and win. We have no pressure. We want to continue on this momentum, our motivation is to win,” he said.
Gambia look to win first ever continental title
Gambia at the AFCON U20. PHOTO/CAF
Gambia will look to win its first ever continental title at any age grade as they take on Senegal in the final of the Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
The Gambians progressed to their first ever final after edging out Nigeria in the semi-finals, and this is an improvement from their third place finish last season.
And now, the Young Scorpions have set their sights on going all the way. Coach Abdoulie Bojang says the game will be one of the biggest for the team and they have prepared well to try give their best.
“We’re very much focused, which is the most important thing and this is the most important game in my life because we took it game by game and now we’re into the final,” Bojang said.
He added; “It will be an interesting game, a derby game but the most important is to make sure that we concentrate fully during the course of the game. We want to put up a respectable performance and at the end of the day we want to win the game.”
The Gambia have a decent record in the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations with two bronze medals in their three previous participations.
Nigeria clinch bronze
Nigeria celebrate bronze at the AFCON U20. PHOTO/CAF
Meanwhile, Nigeria clinched bronze after thrashing Tunisia 4-0 in the third place play-off in Cairo.
Ibrahim Muhammad and Ahmed Abdullahi scored the first two with Jude Sunday scoring a second half brace as the Flying Eagles clinched a morale boosting victory to leave Cairo with medals on their necks.
The Flying Eagles broke the deadlock through Muhammad’s clever finish after 9 minutes. The youngster converted Daniel Bameyi pass following a mistake in the Tunisia defense.
Nigeria held on to go into the break with their 1-0 lead as Tunisia rue their lack of coordination in the final third.
The Flying Eagles came from the break with more determination to see off the match and they doubled their advantage a minute after the restart.
Abdullahi made it 2-0 with a cool finish from Ibrahim Muhammad’s pass inside the area. The seven-time champions made it 3-0 two minutes later through Sunday’s brilliant low drive from distance.
The winger then put the icing on the cake with a superb goal on the stroke of full time to cement the victory.
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