Debutants Gambia got off to a losing start in the Canada 2007 FIFA U-20 campaign with a grave 3-0 defeat to one of the tournament favorites Mexico on Monday.

The defeat means Gambia will go for a must win encounter when they meet fellow newcomers New Zealand on Thursday and Seedy Kinteh, President of The Gambia Football Association sees the prospect of things improving in the remaining two group fixtures.

Speaking to Observer Sports shortly after the disappointing match, Kinteh praised the performance of the Gambian team, but admitted that losing 3-0 was something hard to digest.
“The boys had all the opportunity to win the game and going three goals down in the second half after a bright first half is really hard to digest. The goals were too much.” he said.

Kinteh, who also admitted the refereeing was excellent, said it will be too early to point fingers at each other for the defeat adding that the remaining two fixtures should be the key priorities. “No-one should be held responsible for the defeat because it will be too early. Losing a first match is not the end of the road. Let’s continue to support the team and hope that they win the remaining fixtures to proceed to the next stage”, he appealed.

“In our previous tournaments (Peru and Congo), we have had a good starting before ending poorly. So this time around, it could be the opposite where we can take off from this poor start to a prospective ending,” optimistic Kinteh predicted.

The Gambia played the better football in the opening 45 minutes of their Group C encounter against Mexico on Monday but were unable to maintain their dominance in the second half.
The game turned Mexico's way in the 57th minute when Dos Santos blasted a volley from 25 metres and then 10 minutes later Hector Moreno slotted home after a swift counter-attack.

Hernandez wrapped up a win, which takes Mexico level on three points with Portugal at the top of Group C.