They have been pitted in the same group for South Africa 2010 World Cup qualifiers, yet The Gambia can again face their north
African foes, Algeria, in another qualifying competition.

This time the qualifying round for the African Youth Championship finals to be hosted Rwanda in 2009. The qualififying round fixtures released by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) last night will see The Gambia lock horns with the winner in the Algeria - Mauritania preliminary tie.

Already a big gun in youth football, The Gambia were alongside other big names like Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt and Cameroon, excluded from the preliminaries which are scheduled to commence in mid April 2008.

The 2007 African bronze medalists will sit aside for the preliminaries to past before they host either Algeria or Mauritania in June 2008 for the first-leg of the first round qualifiers.