The National Scorpions will take on the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone in an international friendly as part of preparations for the World and Nations Cup 2010 qualifiers. The game is scheduled for Sunday December 23.

The Gambia Football Association (GFA) with sponsorship from Africell, has succeeded in securing the International friendly match against Sierra Leone, which everyone expects would provide very keen competition and the preparatory impetus required to get the Scorpions up to full steam. The Leone Stars are a formidable side and a force to be reckoned with in African football. This makes them major contenders in both CAF and World Cup Qualifying Play-offs. So, a big encounter is  expected come Sunday 23 December. This encounter should be a real testing ground, as it will provide an opportunity for both sides to apply and to assess strategies, techniques and game plans, among other preparatory measures.

The Gambia is grouped with neighbours Senegal, Liberia, and Algeria in Group 6 in the 2010 World cup qualifiers.

Seedy MB Kinteh, President of the Gambia Football Association, said Gambian foreign players are expected to take part in the game.

“We have invited foreign-based players who will be free as the date is not on FIFA’s international calendar,” Mr Kinteh stated.

He revealed that they have identified 11 foreign-based Gambian players who will not be engaged on club duties and they will join the best local players for the game.

He said they are expecting Ebou Sillah, Assan Jatta, Mustapha Jarju, Ebrima Sawaneh, Yankuba Ceesay, goalkeeper Musa Bajaha, Abdoulie Corr, Tijan Jaiteh, Pa Saikou Kujabi and Pa Ousman Sonko.

He added that Ken Abdoulie Mansally, Dawda Bah, Demba Savage, Ken Ma Lamin Jammeh and Pierre Gomez who are currently on holidays in the country are training with the Zone II team from which a final selection of players will be made for the encounter.

Sierra Leone is drawn in Group 4, alongside Nigeria, South Africa and Equatorial Guinea.

Sierra Leone progressed in the stage II Caf (Africa) World Cup Qualifying campaign after claiming a 1-0 aggregate victory over Guinea-Bissau in the preliminaries.

The Leone Stars join Djibouti, Madagascar and 45 other African nations in the hat for the qualifying draw for Africa’s first ever World Cup. The draw took place in Durban on 25 November 2007.

Twelve groups of four will take part in the qualifiers, and the twelve group winners shall advance to Stage III along with the eight best-runners up.

From there, the 20 remaining teams will be split into five groups of four for a qualification battle that also serves to determine who will play at the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola.

The four group winners in Stage III advance to the World Cup, and they’re joined by second and third place from each group at the Cup of Nations.

South Africa will actually take part in the World Cup qualifying campaign despite being hosts of the World Cup, and Angola will do likewise in spite of being hosting the Cup of Nations.

Angola will compete only for a World Cup place while South Africa will obviously play only for a spot in the Cup of Nations.