By Associate Editor Muhammed Jawara
For a reader in America, this may sound a little bit weired. No, am not talking about the football often showcased in Florida by the Tampa Bay Boccaneirs. I am talking about the game the rest of the world outside the American shores call football, that game which gives tremendouse amount of excitement to fans around the glode. Writing for the Kenyan Newspaper The Nation, columnist Chris Tsuma recently wrote, "I have always longed to see sports fans pour into the streets of Nairobi branding flags, honking car horns and screaming their heads off in celebration of a victory.However, my reaction to Sunday nights demonstration of delight by Arsenal fans after their team's last gasp win over rivals Manchester United was one of extreme embarrassment." This came after Arsenal completed a double defeat on Manchester United this season that leaves the English premeir league wide open.
Mr. Tsuma may term the wild celeberation of football fans in Kenya an embarrasment, yet emotions of football fans run beyond national borders. This is what makes it all the more important for countries who have hitherto being sleeping to join the flow. The Gambia, it seems is answering the call.
At the under-17 and under-20 levels, The Gambia, without any doubt has one of the best football teams in Africa. This may sound hyperbolical. In reality though, this claim is supported by facts that are written all over the wall. The Gambia's under-17 team is the current African champion on purely merit. The under-17 team before that represented The Gambia in 2003 championship, failing to reach the quarter finals on goal difference, after a two-all draw with cameroon. Two years later in Banjul, they were crowned champions after beating formidable sides such as Ivory Coast and Ghana en route. That was not the end of the story. They repeated the feat, or at least, came closer to doing so in Peru in 2005 world under-17 championship. The Gambia beat Brazil emphatically by 3-1, they beat the host Peru and lost to the Netherlands by two goals to zero. They were eliminated in the first round due to the fact that Brazil had a superior goal difference than them. It must be said that, The Gambia left that tornament as the most exciting and the most impressive team. For a first outing in such an illusterous tornament, that is no small feat.
The Gambia's under-20 is currently doing their own share of moving the Gambian football to the next level. At the preliminary, they played extremely well against countries such as Mali who have a very good youth side, some of who are products of the Salifu Keita Football Academy. At the end Mali bowed down, after the Gambian under-20 team put the final nail in their coffin in the return leg of their tie in Banjul. Ousman Jallow was the ochestrator of that impressive performance. This affords the Gambia the opportunity to showcase their talents at the football bigtime, after making it to the 2007 African under-20 championship in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Many people doubt the depth of the Gambian team before the tournament. People questioned their ability to perform at such a big stage. It was only a matter of time before the under-20 team shows what they are capable of doing. Now they are doing just that!
The Gambia kicked off their tournament with an impressive win over Burkina Fasso, one of the favourites. Not only did the baby scopions, as they are known, inflict a defeat on the Burkinabes. They did it in style, a la Arsenal Football club. They put two goals behind the Burkinabe net in a space of three minutes, keeping a clean sheet on the road to victory. Three days later, they humbled the Congolese under-20 team, beating them by a goal to nil, in front of their home crowd. They showed resilence and great character, leaving it late before Pa Landing Conateh put a bullet on the Congolese net barely a minute before the end of the game. They picked all three points for the second time in a row!
Historically, this tornament has served as the breeding ground for African talent. From the Jay Jay Okocha debut in Nigeria to Ismail Taye Taiwo and John Mikel Obi, some players at this tornament have been valuable contribution to their national sides. No one need an introduction to Jay Jay Okocha or Siasia Samson of Nigeria. Stepping into the glamour of the game, these two giants of Nigerian football never look back after their introduction at the under-20 level. In the team that represented Ghana at the world cup, some of their key players made their mark first as representatives of Ghana at the under-20 level. The current African player of the year, Micheal Essien, Derek Boateng, John Paintsill, Sullay Muntari, Asamoah Gyan, Razak Pimpong and others play pivotal roles in raising Ghana's stock at the 2006 world cup. These were all players who performed well at the under-20 level.
The sudden improvement in The Gambian football owes a lot to the support given by the Gambian people. With all its failures in many areas, the government of The Gambia must be commended for both the moral and financial support they have been giving the boys. I am not sure if the Sir Dawda Jawara era witnessed a similar effort by the government, or whether lack of it is what had been responsible for the Gambia's abysmal performances in all tournaments. However, the motivation that these young teams are getting from the president and the Gambian government as a whole is what makes football flourish in many countries. We salute the president in that regard and urge him to continue that noble venture in football and in other areas.
Without any doubt, i strongly beleive that the Gambia has one of the best youth teams in the entire continent of Africa. I have no doubt that they can win the current under-20 championship.
If Gambians continue to support them, they can live up to the expectation that many of us have on them. They can be to the Gambia as the Micheal Essien's under-20 era have been doing for Ghana. They can erased the mentality of the Gambia playing a second fiddle to other countries when it comes to football.
The future of the Gambian football is bright. All the players need is a support!