The Assistant Coach of The Gambia National U-20 Team, Lamin Sarr, has expressed optimism that his team will beat Ghana in the final stages of the 2009 16thAfrican youth championship qualifiers to book their second appearance in the competition.

Speaking during the teams’ training session at the Independence Stadium in Bakau, Coach Sarr stated that he has confidence in the players and that they can defeat Ghana to qualify to the 2009 African U-20 Youth Championship to be hosted by Rwanda in January 2009.

He pointed out that, “six of these players Ebou Bojang, Sainey Touray, Haruna Jammeh, Amadou Sanyang, Abdourahman Dampha and Pierre Gomez are currently on trial in Europe and America and urged the players to remain committed and work harder in order to realise their objectives.

Both teams will square off in the first leg game scheduled for the weekend of 26thSeptember 2008 in Ghana and weeks later in Banjul.

The winners qualify for the final round of the championships to be held in Rwanda from January 18thto February 1st, 2009.