Following his side's 3-1 win over Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia U-17 Coach Tarik Siagy has stated that he is in the process of building a new team for the qualifiers of the 8th African U-17 Championship Algeria 2009 and is very pleased with their performance.
He said, " I lost most of my players who were taken to the U-20 team and since then I started up with this boys who played very well today and despite their performance, the team is new one and they did extremely well".
He made these over on Saturday shortly after his teams victory over Guinea-Bissau in an international friendly played on Saturday at the Independence Stadium in Bakau.
"We will be taking on Senegal in Dakar on August 23rd and this will give the boys the necessary preparation for facing Sierra Leone on the 30th of August in Banjul," he asserted.
The game was dominated by Guinea-Bissau in the first 20 minutes of play. The Guinean side, which was well composed and experienced, and had a series of opportunities to take the lead through Umaro Mbalo Karo and Alberto Quintirque but were not successful in finding the net as a result of poor finishing.
The Gambia U-17 team only had a few chances and hardly made it past the tough and solid Guinean midfielders. Their lack of experience and exposure was also manifesting itself during the first 20 minutes.
In the 25th minute Gambia's Coach Tarik Siagy effected changes. He substituted Buba Jammeh for Saikou Gassama and this paid dividends as three minutes later, Gambia's Alassan Camara gave Gambia the lead following a cross from Omar Colley.
Buba Jallow, alias Meles, netted The Gambia's second from a long -range shot in the 60th minute. He was later substituted for Dawda Ceesay in the 67th minute. Dawda also marked his name on the score sheet in the 85th minute from a header.
Guinea's only goal was recorded by substituted Idrissa Camara in the 79th minute.
