Gambia head coach Tom Saintfiet gave an exclusive audience to SPORTSWorldGhana.com ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final tie between his team and host Cameroon.
Gambia are unbeaten in four games in four games in their first ever AFCON appearance. The Scorpions face another big test against Cameroon who are also undefeated at the competition.
Ahead of Saturday’s showdown at the Japoma stadium, Saintfiet granted an exclusive interview with SPORTSWorldGhana.com and below are the key takeaways.
The fairy tale of Gambia so far
“We are looking forward to play Cameroon. It’s an honor first of all to be at AFCON as a small country as Gambia which in the quarterfinal is already a fairy tale. And now playing against the hosts Cameroon probably in a packed stadium with fantastic fans.
Fans at the Japoma stadium
“All the games we played with a lot of fans in the stadium the atmosphere was brilliant. Now playing against a football nation one of the best football nations in Africa with fantastic history of football on top tournaments but also bright future all players in Cameroon are in team of quality players with the experience they’ve got and also experience of highest level of African football and that makes it a very competitive match.
On Covid-19
“We hope that all our players will recover from sickness. We have no Covid cases already for two matches in a row against Guinea and Tunisia and so we are not much worried about that. But we are hoping hopefully everyone gets recovered. Some guys were sick from taking some food and some small knocks.”
“If both teams have their strongest squads available it will be brilliant and then we can compete on the pitch and we will see what our limitations are. But we have to also enjoy this , enjoy as debutantes to play the quarterfinals against the hosts. On the pitch we will fight for everything we can. We already have a tactical plan”
