By: Zackline Colley
The Gambia’s U20 national football team suffered a disappointing and humiliating exit from the WAFU tournament, failing to qualify for the next stage.
Head coach Abdoulie Bojang expressed deep frustration following the team’s 3-0 loss, emphasizing tactical indiscipline and defensive lapses as crucial factors in their elimination.
Bojang acknowledged that the team had failed to meet expectations, stating, “Our target was to qualify for the upcoming tournament. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it due to a lack of concentration and tactical indiscipline.”
He pointed out that the match should have been more manageable compared to previous encounters against tougher opponents like Mali, Guinea, and Senegal. “To me, the games we played against Mali and Senegal were tougher than this one,” he explained. “But due to a lack of concentration, we conceded the first goal. And because of tactical indiscipline, we conceded another.”
The coach highlighted the team’s inability to maintain their defensive shape, particularly when they went in search of a goal to level the match. “We are normally compact in the middle and on the sides, but the players were looking for a goal instead of trying to defend. When you concede another goal, especially late in the game, it’s very difficult to equalize.”
Bojang lamented the team’s failure to stick to their game plan, despite bringing in more offensive players to try to turn the game around. “We wanted to control the game as early as possible, but unfortunately, we ended up chasing it from behind,” he said. “Things went wrong today. The organization wasn’t good, and we lacked patience, especially with the goals we conceded.”
He praised his team’s offensive capabilities, noting that they had no issues scoring in previous matches, but emphasized that their defensive shortcomings were ultimately their downfall. “Offensively, we scored two goals. Throughout the tournament, we didn’t have problems scoring, but defensively, that was our problem. We conceded five goals in three games, and today we let in three, which was too much.”
In a reflective tone, the coach stressed the need for patience, particularly in attack. “We had a couple of chances we could have scored if we were patient,” he said. “But there was a lack of patience in the attacking part, and we were unable to score when it mattered.”
The Gambian team now faces the challenge of regrouping and addressing their tactical and defensive weaknesses as they look ahead to future competitions. For now, the focus remains on learning from the mistakes made during the WAFU tournament and coming back stronger.
“We have to improve defensively,” Bojang concluded. “The team was improving during the tournament, but today things didn’t go according to plan.”
