This Saturday, The Gambia’s Scorpions battle it out with Liberia’s Lone Stars, in a footballing combat, the outcome of which weighs heavily in determining the country’s chances of making it to the World Cup and African Cup of Nations, two of the most celebrated of football competitions, slated for 2010. As it is often said in football circles these days, there are no underdogs.

Indeed, there are no underdogs. This means that spectators are anticipating quite an uphill task for the Scorpions. But we are also expecting victory, as the new generation of Gambian players have demonstrated too much talent on the football pitch. They’ve achieved so much, but there is a little bit more work to be done.

Having said this, if history can judge well, it was this very same country that made history, a few years ago, when it went on a spree of triumphant display; commencing from The Gambia itself, right up to Peru and Canada, in the World Cup finals.

That fantastic performance of our boys reaffirms the fact that nothing is impossible; but it also means that there are as much opportunities for our opponents as well, which requires more effort on the part of our much-trusted players and the technicians. Winning a game at any time is tremendous, it’s impossible to describe the pride in the achievement.

Nonetheless, the thought of the calibre of players we have also reinforces hope of making it through, by the grace of Allah, of course. All we have to do is to learn from past experiences. We surely did not just grab that cherished glory out of a vacuum; it cost us some form of support for the boys; support from the fans; support from the elders; support from the mosques and churches, support from the government; and even the support of the head of state himself. The country has never been so united as it was during those glorious moments of the darling U-17s. This is the spirit The Gambia, as a nation, is asking for.

As a footballing nation, we have never been short of fans; this is illustrated by the daily proliferation of fans clubs of individual players here or clubs there, yet sometimes our attitude towards these players and teams tend to serve as a deterrent to their performance.

 What we lack is that ability to endure hardship, in terms of accepting defeat sometimes. Our attitude towards our players after competitions - whether they emerge victorious or not - to a great extent determines their performance in subsequent competitions.

The message for Gambians is that the breed of players we have currently is so fine that we are under a collective obligation to nurture it further.