Jaraaf coach confident of beating GPA

In what could be regarded as the biggest international football match in The Gambia since the turn of the year, The Gambia and Senegal will rub shoulders in the second leg clash of the Caf African champions league match at the Serrekunda East Mini Stadium.

The weekend’s game that is expected to produce an exciting football match will be played between The Gambia Ports Authority and their Senegalese counterparts Jaraaf. 

The Senegalese team on Wednesday arrived in Banjul ahead of the tie and their coach is optimistic of achieving the desired result.

Lamin Jeng, Jaraaf’s coach, has expressed optimism that his team will beat GPA in Saturday’s second leg of the CAF Orange Champions league, to qualify for the second round of the tournament.

According to him, his team is well prepared for the return leg despite the absence of some key players and has vowed to put up a good fight to be victorious.

Jeng said: "We have identified the weaknesses of The Gambia Ports Authority during the first leg in Dakar and we will capitalise on their weaknesses to beat them."

Jeng, who is also aware of the GPA’s threat, described their Saturday's opponents as a very good team, saying their performance in the first leg was spectacular, especially in their defensive tact.

"At the moment my team is currently struggling in the Senegalese league because most of our players went to play their professional football in different European clubs but that cannot be taken as an excuse on Saturday," said the confident coach Jeng, ahead of the crucial and decisive match tomorrow.

The two neighbours, it would be recalled, played a pulsating 1-1 draw during the first leg in the competition in Dakar a fortnight ago.

The winner in the Banjul clash will automatically progress to the next stage of the qualifiers.