Seedy Buwa Kinteh, president of the Gambia Football Association (GFA), has confirmed to reporters that the Gambia senior national team is set to line up for a friendly international game against Gabon on June 7 in Libreville.
"We have intensify plans to organize friendly match for Scorpions that is expected to come on June 7 and invitation for the friendly has been sent to the players who will arrive in Banjul latest 31st of this month before proceeding to Gabon a week later ahead of the June 7 international friendly game," Kinteh told reporters in an interview in his GFA office in Kanifing at the weekend.
The friendly will go a long way in trying to help motivate the Scorpions who will use the opportunity to prepare for the upcoming qualifiers of the African Cup of Nations to be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next year.
The Gambia's Senior Scorpions headed by the Belgian tactician Paul Put have failed to make any significant progress in the latest FIFA Coca-cola monthly rankings released earlier this month, which has seen them maintained their last month'sposition of 103 in the world and 24 in Africa.
This is however attributed to the country's lack of enough friendly matches which serves as a cause for the fear among Gambian soccer fans that the team's chances of qualification to next year's African Nations Cup finals could be seriously hampered by the continual lack of adequate preparation for the gallant Scorpions.
The Scorpions are set to resume their quest for their first ever African nations cup appearance when they travel to Namibia for the second leg of the qualifiers of Caf’s biggest football showpiece set to continue in October.
The senior Scorpions who remained the country's only hope in the international football showdown will wrap up the qualifying rounds with a crucial second-leg clash with mighty Burkina Faso in what is sure to be a decisive encounter in Banjul in November.
The Gabon friendly will be the first preparatory test for Paul and his struggling charges since they suffered a 1-nil defeat to Equatorial Guinea in Malabo a few months ago.
