The stage is set for the final of the 8th Edition of African Under 17 Championship featuring The Gambia and hosts Algeria. With the big prize - a trip for the U-17 World Cup in 2009 - already won, the youth sides from The Gambia and Algeria will battle for the regional bragging rights in today’s final, which will kick-off at 13:30 GMT.

Both teams proved their worth by hitting their semifinal opponents (Malawi and Burikina Faso, respectively) in the weekend to set up an enticing final.

How they got there
Gambia
Coach Tarik Siagy’s side started off the tournament in a convincing fashions getting the only goal from Ebrima Bojang in the 1-0 win over Guinea.

The team went ahead to ran riot against Cameroon with a 2-0 blowout victory, which left them not needing a result against the final group play opponents, Algeria. Despite making sure of their semi-final and World Cup spots however, the Baby Scorpions were determined to maintain a clean sheet in the group campaign and they did so by beating Algeria 2-0 in the ultimate group match to emerge as Group A winners with 9 points.

The Baby Scorpions, who were champions in the 2005 edition hosted in Banjul, added more icing to the cake when they earned their biggest win of the tournament with four unanswered goals against Malawi to reach the final. The Malawians, who earlier finished third in their group, were only drafted in to replace Niger who were suspended by the Confederation of African Football for fielding over-age player in their group match against Zimbabwe.

Algeria
The hosts finished behind Gambia in Group A with six points, but did so unexpectedly. An opening match 1-0 victory against pre-tournament favorites Cameroon set the stage for the first-timers’ qualification to the semis which, according to their head coach, was the primary target.

The team followed up with a similar score win against Guinea before suffering their first defeat against Gambia in the final group match, which was just a mere formality as both sides had already qualified for the semis.

In the semi-final clash on Sunday, the Burkinabes proved a worthy opponents against the hosts who however went ahead to labour a 1-0 win and ensured their place in the final of the age-category competition.

Player to Watch
Gambia’s talismanic striker Ebrima Bojang has scored in three of Gambia’s four matches, including the final group match against Algeria. The Major League Soccer (MLS) trialist who is being touted as another Momodou (Zico) Ceesay in the making, presently leads the scoring chart with three goals and I can see him cause trouble for the Algerians again.