Gambia U-17 beat Tunisia to book ticket to Rwanda

The Gambia national U-17 team will begin the defence of their African U-17 championship title in Rwanda in 2011 after qualifying for the 9th Edition of the CAF youth tournament by beating Tunisia 1-nil in Banjul on Saturday.

The two times African champions at the U-17 level enjoyed a deserved 3-3 aggregate win to edge out their North African opponents thanks to two vital away goals scored by inspirational captain Buba Jallow in the first leg in Tunis a fortnight ago.

Demba Janneh's decisive strike with only five minutes on the clock in the Banjul encounter on Saturday was all but enough to send the Baby Scorpions to their third U-17 championship campaign.

After emerging as champions in Banjul in 2005, the famous Baby Scorpions re-wrote history by beating Algeria in Algiers in 2009 to record their second African U-17 title thanks to an impressive 3-1 win over the host.`

This latest qualification has confirmed the national U-17's fourth appearance in the continental youth championship.

Highly considered the favourite to regain the 2011 title, the U-17 have become the second national side in the country to advance to the continental youth championship after their seniors - the national U-20 team of The Gambia, who made every Gambian proud by edging out the much-fancied Ivory Coast to go through.

The tournament will commence in January in Rwanda.