Minister Badjie made these remarks after The Gambia secured its first win of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers at the Stade Lat Dior in Thies, Senegal on Saturday.
Ablie Jallow alias Germano scored the game’s only goal for The Gambia at the stroke of half time.
"This is the first game and securing the maximum points in your first game of every competition is very important. We are also hopeful of a win or at least a draw against Congo," he stated, saying with the determination and commitment of the players, The Gambia can qualifier for the African Cup of Nations for the second time in a row.
According to him, they are at an advanced stage in ensuring Gambia's September game is played in Banjul, noting that they are working with the minister of Works to get the right contractor to the job, then submit the report to CAF for assessment of the stadium.
"Contractors have been coming forward but we do not want to do a job that CAF will not be satisfied with," he said.
"We want to take our time to ensure whenever the job is completed, it pass CAF assessment," he further said, confirming that they hope to start work by the end of this month and complete it in two months time.
Minister Badjie said in the event they are not able to complete the job in two months time, they would still ensure it is good enough to host September's game and ensure it is completely finished by December.
