Austria sting their Gambian counterparts in last night’s second round clash at the ongoing FIFA U-20 World Championships in Canada at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. Austria beat 10 men Gambia 2-1 to proceed to the quarter-final stages.

Gambia were reduced to ten men on the 42nd minutes with the sending off of versatile Tijan Jaiteh before Sabastian Proedl nodded home the opener just three minutes after, in a fiery first-half encounter that was admittedly dominated by Austria - the first team from the Alpine nations to advance to the second stage of a FIFA event since 1982.

Fresh from break however, saw a much better Gambian side as both Ousman Jallow and his strike-mate Sainey Nyassi came close to an equaliser.
As they fought for a late come-back, the Darling Scorpions’ hopes were restored on the 68th minutes when Pierre Gomez slotted in his first goal of the tournament to fetch the much needed equaliser.

However, Austria did not fail to utilise their numerical advantage and Gambia’s celebrations was short-lived when unmarked Hoffer chested down a well crossed ball before beating goalkeeper Gomez to seal the game at 2-1.

Victorious Austria will now travel to Toronto to meet in the quarter-finals, the mighty America who also eased past Uruguay with a 2-1 victory during their last night’s meeting.
Gambia became the first African side to be eliminated from the biennial championships, but the first-time finalists will still head home with pride.

After a losing 0-3 start to Mexico in their Group C opening match, the Darling Scorpions have improved match after match, as they defeated New Zealand and much fancied Portugal in the remaining two games to qualify as the second place team.

Meanwhile, the other three African representatives in the competition will all be engaged today as the last batch of the second round matches is cleared.