Following the elimination of the Gambia’s U20 by Ghana and the CAF tricky formula that denied the senior national team a place in the second preliminaries round for the world and African cup of nation, the Assistant Coach of the darling U17 team, the only hope of the nation of making it to the continental competition, Lamin Sambou has called on both the general public and private sector to give massive support for the U17 team to make sure that the team qualify.

Speaking to Pointsports in an interview Mr. Sambou revealed that the team is at this point in time preparing for the first leg in AccraGhana in November 2008, for the CAF U17 championship.

He maintained that the players are training very hard to make sure that they gain qualification.

“They are the only hope now as the senior and U20 teams are already out. All we need now is the prayers of the general public and their support and by the help of God we will qualify,” a confident Lamin Sambou said.

“The team needs both the support of the private sector and the general public, both financially and morally to give them more courage,” he added.

It could be recalled that the Gambia U17 team eliminated the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone in the first round of the CAF U17 championship qualifiers and will be meeting Ghana in the final of the qualifiers.  It could be equally important to recalled that the Ghanaian U20 team eliminated the Gambia U20 team, denying them their second chance of appearance in the U20 youth tournament. The U17 is now the only Gambia’s hope of taking part in continental tournament this year and will be looking for a revenge, for the U20 defeat in Banjul in early November 2008.