The
Gambia’s Scorpions have returned to Banjul from Benin where they made an
unsuccessful attempt to beat their African counterparts in their opening group
D fixtures of the 2019 Africa nations cup qualifier to be hosted by Cameroon.
The
seemingly inexperienced Scorpions under the tutelage of under fire coach Sang
Ndong arrived home yesterday Tuesday, two days after they slumped 1-0 to The
Squirrels of Benin at Mathew Kerikou National Stadium in Cotonou, on Sunday.
Benin
goal came in the 52th minute through a deflected shot by Stephen Sessogne which
was all they needed to beat their West African counterparts, the Scorpions who
could not score from numerous chances they created.
Stephen
pointed to the sky during his celebration and was joined by team mates in an
exciting evening in front of the home fans.
Gambia’s
best chances felt to the star men Modou Barrow and Babucar Trawally in the
first half but the duo’s efforts were not good enough to earn the scorpions a
happy moment.
There
were no serious threats mounted by Coach Sang Ndong’s men in the second half
leaving them with little or no option than to chase their shadows for the
remainder of a dull encounter.
Sang
and his charges on papers were the underdogs prior to the Benin encounter going
by their poor records in international outings.
Statistics
reveals that the Scorpions have not won a single competitive game in the
international front.
However,
they did little effort to prove their critics wrong after delivering yet
another disappointing result.
The
defeat to Benin have also placed Gambia in a difficult position going into
their return leg in Banjul as well as two crunch ties against Algeria and Togo.
Togo
beat Algeria with a similar scoreline late Sunday evening in the other game of
group D fixtures of the qualifiers.
Togo
top the group after their winning start to the qualifier campaign with an away
goal advantage while Benin sit second also on 3 points after their home win.
Algeria and Gambia languished in bottom place
without a single point or a goal.
The
two sides are scheduled to meet in Banjul in March 2018.
And
soon after watching the match on live screaming and other social networking
sites, Scorpions fans have taken to Facebook to express their dissatisfactions
for what they called Gambia’s poor showing in international matches.
