The
Scorpions of the Gambia aim to build on their disappointing defeat away to
Morocco, when they travel to Central Africa Republic for their final
international friendly match in Bangui, on Monday.
The
North African side defeated Gambia 2-1 in an action packed game.
Thursday
was another disappointing moment for the stingless Scorpions fans, who expected
nothing less than a landslide victory against a lowly-rated Moroccan team who
featured only the home-based team to that of Gambia’s professionals.
Despite
putting up a team dominated by some of the country’s most established talents
such as Babucarr Trawally, of Yanbian Fude, in the Chinese super league, and
Leeds United’s pacy winger Modou Barrow, the Scorpions continued to struggle
for the better part of the game, hitting the woodwork in a frustrating evening
at the Kenetra’s Municipal stadium in Rabat.
Striker
Mustapha Carayol, 29, who plies his trade in the English championship side
Nothingham Forest, scored Gambia’s only goal from a penalty spot.
The
goal is Carayol’s second international strike following his brilliant solo
effort in their game against Mauritania last year.
The
defeat was part of a series of embarrassing results for the Scorpions which saw
them drop down to 179 places in the latest Fifa world Coca-Cola rankings, 71
places behind Central African Republic who sit at 108th place in the latest
rankings released earlier this month.
However,
Sang and his charges still have a chance to build a formidable team ahead of
the commencement of the Caf Orange Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The
Gambia are scheduled to begin their qualifier campaign at home to Benin, in
Port Novo, in June 2017.
Coach
Sang Ndong’s men are pitted in group D of the qualifiers alongside Benin, Togo
and Algeria, in the race to secure qualification to the 32nd edition of the
tournament which will take place in Cameroon in 2019.