Buba Jallow, head coach of the Gambia Female U-17 team, has expressed his desire to win the Female World Cup Trophy like any other coach.
He said if that is not possible, they will make sure they give a respectable performance that will catch the eyes of the whole world.
He stated that the Gambia U-17 female team’s qualifying for the tournament is history, adding that even if they die (the coaching staff and players) the history will remain in the annals of the FIFA books and Gambian football.
Saying football is run by finance, he appealed to the general public to support the team financially, morally and also pray for them. They will give their best at the tournament, he reiterated.
He noted that among their constraints are late preparation, late medical test but stated that their main focus now is the competition.
The players are ready for the tournament and want to give their best, he said, adding that he believes they have a team.
One of the reasons for going to the tournament is to have experience, he said. Korea are the defending champions but “this is a junior tournament and both teams did not know each other”.
They are studying the way Korea play so that they can counter them, he disclosed.
He added that the medical test for the players were supposed to finish yesterday, Wednesday, at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH), adding that it should have ended earlier.
They will start training today, Coach Jallow stated, adding that they were training after qualifying for the tournament but since they went for the draw in Azerbaijan and came back, the team has not trained due to financial constraints.
He said any player that fails the medical test will be dropped, urging players to take it in good faith because that would be the best for her and the country than being taken to the tournament and collapsed in the field of play.
Preparation for the team is late because when they travelled to Azerbaijan for the draw, they sat with their opponents (France, Korea and USA) and had a dialogue, noting that those people have told them they were in camp since then.
He stated that the late preparation might affect them or not, saying he has hope in the players because the players have expressed their readiness to die for the country by giving their best.
He added that the players are training with their respective teams but they will still camp and train together before the start of the tournament.
Jallow also said they will have a local camp in the country and organize test games both locally and internationally (internationally with Senegal, home and away).
He expressed optimism that they will get the necessary money they need because Women’s Bureau, the Female Artists and the Female Presenters have taken the responsibility to raise funds for the team.
He also said the provisional list that should go for the tournament is 35 players but they have currently selected 40 players.
The team is free from injuries at the moment but that in football you can never tell because you can sustain an injury during training even 3 days before the tournament,” he said.
“The Gambia, Ghana and Nigeria (all West African countries) qualifying for the tournament shows that female youth football in West Africa is going in the right direction,” head coach Jallow, who was speaking to reporters at the GFA Secretarial yesterday, said.
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