Gambia relishing chance to serve as giantkillers all over again

ABIDJAN : Tiny Gambia might find themselves facing a tough proposition in their group at the Africa Cup of Nations finals but coach Tom Saintfiet reckons none of their fancied opponents will be relishing going up against his side.

Gambia, whose population of some 2.64-million pales in comparison to most countries at this month’s tournament in the Ivory Coast, are competing at the finals for a second time but in their debut appearance two years ago were giantkillers and progressed to the quarter-finals.

"I'm aware that it will be tough to repeat what we did two years ago. Cameroon, Guinea and Senegal are all top contenders and it is a group of death but I don't think any of them is pleased about the prospect of going up against us," Saintfiet said in an interview with Reuters.

Gambia, who start their Group C campaign against holders Senegal in Yamoussoukro on Monday, have progressed rapidly since the arrival of the nomadic Belgian, who had nine different national team coaching jobs before moving to west Africa.

"When I arrived, Gambia were 172 in the world, and they had not won a competitive match for five years. My first salary was the least I'd ever earned but I had made an analysis of the team and I felt there was potential," he said.

"I told the federation president I’d qualify them for the Cup of Nations but he laughed and said ‘first win a match’. But they gave me the freedom to do my job and we slowly built a successful process."

Gambia qualified top of their group to make the 24-team field for the 2021 tournament and continued the upsets at the finals in Cameroon, beating Tunisia and Guinea before succumbing to the hosts in the quarter-finals.

The recipe two years ago was a determination to stay involved in the