The fixtures for the 15th Edition of the CAF Youth Championship finals have been released by the organisers. The debutant, Gambia will face Burkina Faso in the opening day, January 20th, 2007 in a Group A match in Brazzaville.

It will be on the same day that the host nation will lock horns with Ivory Coast in the grand opening match in another Group A fixture.
The Darling Scorpions’ second match will fall in three days later when they take on the host, Congo. On Tuesday, January 26, 2007, the Gambia will face Ivory Coast in their final group match in Brazzaville.

Paired in Group A alongside Burkina Faso, Congo and Ivory Coast, The Gambia avoided the defending champions, Nigeria who were paired alongside Cameroon, Egypt and Zambia in Group B which is considered as the “Group of Death”. The match timings, Observer Sports has learnt, will be determined in due course by the Confederation of African Football (CAF)

Peter Bonu Johnson, the head coach of The Gambia U-20 side has described the draw as a fair balloting for The Gambia. The Gambian coach is however, a bit wary of the threat that could be posed by any team that has reached this stage of the competition. “Any team that has reached this stage cannot be underrated”, he admitted. But, with early preparations, Bonu added, his side will attain their goal. “If we have the necessary preparation we shall achieve our targets,” he said.

Coach Bonu also planned to have a training camp in a country that shares the same climatic conditions with Congo before the championship finals. By this, he said, The Gambian players would be acclimatised to the weather condition.

Full fixtures

20 Jan 2007
Group A (Brazzaville)
1. Congo v Ivory Coast
2. Burkina Faso v Gambia

21 Jan 2007
Group B (Pointe Noire)
3. Nigeria v Zambia
4. Cameroon v Egypt

23 Jan 2007
Group A (Brazzaville)
5. Ivory Coast v Burkina Faso
6. Gambia v Congo

24 Jan 2007,/b>
Group B (Pointe Noire)
7. Zambia v Cameroon
8. Egypt v Nigeria <26 Jan 2007
Group A (Brazzaville)
9. Ivory Coast v Gambia
10. Congo v Burkina Faso

27 Jan 2007
Group B (Pointe Noire)
11. Zambia v Egypt
12. Nigeria v Cameroon

28 Jan 2007

30 Jan 2007
Group A (Brazzaville),/b>
13. 1 st A v 2 nd B
14. 1 st B v 2 nd A

02 Feb 2007
(Brazzaville)
15. Looser 13 v Looser 14

03 Feb 2007
(Brazzaville)
16. Winner 13 v Winner 14