The Gambia Scorpions have been paired in Group  6, along the neighbouring Senegal, Algeria and Liberia for the 2010 World Cup qualifying round. The South Africa qualifying fixtures will also double as qualifiers for the 2010 African Nations Cup finals scheduled to take place in Angola. Sunday’s draw created 12 groups of four countries for the African continent.

The winners of each round-robin mini-league plus the best eight runners-up will qualify for the third round - where the 20 remain teams will be split into five groups of four. The four group winners in stage 3 will advance to the World Cup and will be joined by the second and third place from each group at the 2010 Nations Cup finals.

The Gambia will face familiar faces during the qualifier fixtures, having played with all the three opponents in a similar competition. The draw also gives Scorpions a chance to avenge the 2003 defeat by Senegal which eliminated them from the 2006 World Cup finals.

With the journey to South Africa set to begin, Observer Sports randomly reached out to some football pundits and enthusiasts, sampling their opinions on Gambia’s chances of qualifying for not only their first-ever Nations Cup finals in Angola, but also their first-ever appearance in the World’s biggest football fiesta in South Africa.

Read on for the reactions:

Seedy Kinteh - President of Gambia Football Association
We don’t see any team as a big team as far as I am concerned. Though we have prepare both locally and internationally. Looking at groupings, Gambia’s group is one of the toughest, but equally we have been paired with familiar faces. We once played with all the three nations before, and it is just a matter of correcting our mistakes in order to fetch the desire result.

However, the issue of Senegal should be treated diplomatically, and the press has a great role to play by sensitising the general public to forget the past.

If you are just next to your opponents, you should let them know your plans.

O.B Conateh - Vice-president of WAFU
There is no easy group among the lots. All the groups are tough, but the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know and in our case, we have been paired with familiar nations. What we need to do is to learn from our past errors. We should avoid confrontation particularly among the fans in the case of Senegal. 

The fans of both nations, which share the same neighbourhood, need to be sensitised constantly ahead of the matches.

To sum it up, this is our chance and we have good squad that can rise to the occasion.  We have been nurturing a solid domestic side in addition to the good crop of overseas talents.

Alagie Sarr - Head coach of GPA
We need early preparation and good coaching staff. We also need money to prepare the team because without them we should not expect much.

Our opponents are not new to us. We have played with them not long ago. They are good teams that give priority to early preparation by organising international friendlies. Without holding such friendlies, one cannot know where your problem lies, and Gambia’s main problem in the past has been lack of preparation.

Football is all about commitment and money, without which, much cannot be expected.

Kebba Ceesay - vice-chairman GFA Technical committee
The draw is fair for the simple fact that we know the strengths and weaknesses of our group-mates, having played with then in similar competitions.
With adequate preparation I am hopeful that team will live up to expectation. I would however, prefer the sports department to set up a special committee for South Africa 2010. This committee can take charge of the entire preparation of the team to ensure a successful campaign.

Lamin Camara - self-confessed football fundamentalist
This is the golden chance for Gambia to make a headway. And we can make it happen if all hands are on deck. Gambians are used to the last minute syndromes and this attitude of ours must stop if we want to progress.

Having already known our opponents, we have to start preparations now since the qualifiers are set to commence in less than three months. We also need international friendlies to determine the strength of our squad. Early and proper preparation is the only key to South Africa 2010 finals.