In Congo Brazzaville Congo coach, Eddy Hudanski is expecting a tough ride when the hosts come up against Gambia in the African Youth Championship (AYC) on today.

The darling Scorpions have already sparked a fiery start in the championship, after they defeated Burkina Faso 2-0. Under-20 hitman Ousman Jallow and Abdoulie Mansally scored for The Gambia, sharing the same points with the hosts.

"We've made our next match more difficult by beating the Ivory Coast because we have now become one of the favourites for the competition," he said.

"The Gambia will now be on their guard and make things very difficult for us so we will have to be vigilant and look at how they played against Burkina Faso.”

Hudanski added: "I think the difference between us and the Ivory Coast was that in the second half we had more desire to win the game.

"We saw at the start of the second half they were too relaxed and so we were able to take the lead in the game."

'We want to lift the cup'

The Gambia, who have been offered US$1m by President Yahya Jammeh to win the competition, beat the Burkinabe 2-0 on Saturday.

Gambia's coach Peter Bonu Johnson is full of confidence after his side won their first match against Burkina Faso. "Our objective is to lift the cup," Johnson said.

"The Congolese will have the advantage of having the support of the home crowd behind them but we will make sure that we compose ourselves and not let the atmosphere overcome us.

"They've also had the advantage of watching us train but we've prepared well and will make sure we give them a run for their money," he added.

Burkina Faso's youth coach Sideke Jarah was not feeling quite as confident ahead of his side's tie against the Ivory Coast.

"I don't have a solution for our problems at the moment, we need to organise ourselves better because we lost the ball too much in the middle of the pitch. This cost us dearly, so we'll need to be more careful in this area," Jarah said.

Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso will also lock horns today in Brazzaville.