The Gambia will open their account in Group A against Slovenia later today as part of the international football tournament held in Umbria, Italy.
The team headed by Bonu Johnson will later take on Italy in their last group game. San Marino, England and Romania complete the other teams in the Group.
After having their first training session on Sunday at the Umbertide Stadium, a thirty-minute drive from the Sporting Hotel, the Gambian team and delegation joined five other national cadet teams to a manifestation ceremony on Monday.
This is the prelude to the tournament and would be characterised by presentations and match-past of the participating teams and officials of their delegation.
The Gambian team has been joined since Sunday by its Honorary Consul General in Italy, Prof Francesco Cristina Santennera, and his Secretary Harriet Saine, a Gambian working at the Consulate in Milan. The two will be with the Gambian team to the end of the finals.
The permanent secretary at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mambayick Njie, is also expected to join the team at its opening encounter against Slovenia. Also at the Sporting Hotel in Gubbio is the hosts team Italia.
Sunday’s training session was done in cold weather, which eventually ended with a downpour of rains. Head Coach Peter Bonu Johnson later advised that rain jackets or coats would be better for such conditions in order to avoid the disturbing weather. No injuries were reported in camp since the arrival of the team.
A technical meeting was scheduled to be held yesterday, where Gambia’s head of delegation Cherno Touray and assistant coach Lamin Sambou were expected to represent the team at 15:30 local time.
Before then the team had its second training session at the Umbertide Stadium at 14:30pm. The Gambia would later be invited to watch a 2nd division match at the Juve Stadium between two local sides.
The final item on Monday’s programming will be an official dinner thrown by the organisers at the Gubbio Historical Centre.
