The Scorpions were nearly forced to a draw by Chad before substitute Bubacarr ‘Steve’ Trawally separated the two sides after scoring the game’s only goal shortly after his introduction in the second half.
“I was not happy that it was late to score that opening goal. For 90 minutes I was waiting for that opening goal. When we scored, I was actually satisfied but it was not over because there was five minutes extra-time and Chad did everything to equalize,” said the Scorpions Coach Tom Saintfiet after the game.
He added that: “A coach can never be happy during a game. You can celebrate 90 minutes and lose the game. I like to be nervous for 90 minute and win the game.”
According to him, even though they need to improve things, he was satisfied with the boys who came in, noting that they had to make some tactical changes especially, now that they have much more time to train for the return leg.
“Today (Thursday), we have to fly to Casablanca, so that we can have some time to relax before starting to train on Saturday. Hopefully we can be more ready and prepared for Tuesday's return leg.”
The Gambia will host Chad in the return leg in Agadir, Morocco on Tuesday 29 March 2022.
