GFA President, Seedy Kinteh has tipped The Gambia U-20 team to play in the final of the World Youth Championships holding in Canada.  Kinteh told Observer Sports that the boys have what it takes to play in the final of the competition.

"No matter what people have said, I know the character of the team and the boys will surprise a lot of people. I don't have any doubt in my mind that they will bring glory to this country at the end of the competition. The boys are good and everything is working in their favour, so I believe they will make it to the final.” he said.

Critics got it all wrong

The optimistic GFA President also lambasted those critics who still insist the team had a bad preparation ahead of the championships.

“It does not warrant anyone to say that we have not prepared the team. This is the team that was prepared here in The Gambia before they were sent for an international training camp in the United States before heading to Canada.” he said.

“Some countries have had a better training camp but today they are out of the competition and a country like Nigeria who flew direct to Canada just few days before the championship proper are still flying. So if our bad preparation can still yield such a positive result, then let the critics judge themselves.”

“The Gambia Football Association has done extremely well to ensure the team’s resounding success and their current position in the championships has vindicated us.”

Kinteh, who earlier prophesied Gambia’s happy return after a losing start, believes that with total hard work, dedication and untiring support from the Gambian public, the Baby Scorpions will prove a point.

The Gambia qualified to the FIFA U-20 World Cup Finals after finishing in the third runners up position at the CAF U-20 Championship finals held in Congo earlier this year.

Prior to their departure to the world’s second-most prestigious championships in Canada,  the team was not tipped to make it past the first round because of what was termed as shoddy preparations. But the Baby Scorpions have surprised even their biggest of critics with the way and manner they got to the last 16 by beating fellow debutants, New Zealand and Portugal 1-0 and 2-1 respectively after a grave 0-3 defeat to Mexico in their debut match.