The Scorpions have Wednesday morning held another training session in El Jadida. This is ahead of the first of three international friendlies this week starting with tomorrow’s match against FIFA Arab World Cup champions Morocco in Mohammedia. Tom Saintfiet put his players through their paces with a 90 minutes’ workout in the day’s only session.
The headline news is that all 26 players are now in camp after the arrival of Ablie Jallow and Dembo Darboe last evening.
Darboe pulled out in previous selections due to different circumstances, but finally, the Shakhtyor Soligorsk striker is here and ready for his debut.
Born in Brikama on 17th August 1998, the 23-year-old began his career with Real de Banjul at 17. He moved to ASEC Ndiambour in Senegal after just one season in the summer of 2017. Two years later, he moved to North Macedonian club FC Shkupi. He made his breakthrough in his second season scoring 17 goals in 19 league matches. He secured a move to Shakhtyor in January this year for an undisclosed fee.
He is currently one of the most in-form players in Europe having scored a monstrous 16 goals this season, to lead his Belarusian Premier League side to the top of the table with 59 points, four ahead of second-place BATE Borisov, even though they played two games less. Darboe is hoping to see a similar form with Scorpions and has promised to give everything in him for his country.
Since 2019, Darboe has scored 34 times, with the highlight being the one he scored towards the end of August. He collected the ball in his own half and ran through the entire length of the field before rounding the keeper to score his side’s third in a 4-0 win. He’s currently scoring at a rate that has never been seen in his entire career.
He has gone, he has seen and has conquered. His addition to the Scorpions set-up has added a killer instinct with a Scorpion whose sting is as deadly as top mask man Assan Ceesay. This is another youthful addition to an already youthful side. Gambians can only dream that it has the team that has the potential to be at the peak of their prowess for at least the next decade.
Baboucarr Camara
