That’s how you make your mark on a competition! Gambian football fans will remember this 12 January 2022 forever as the day of their country’s first AFCON appearance – and the first win. Winger Ablie Jallow scored ten minutes into the game to claim the historic win for his national team. Even though Mauritania had more attempts on goal and enjoyed much of the possession, it was the Scorpions of the Gambia who looked more dangerous and ready to deliver the venom.After the supreme exercise in dilettantism seen on the pitch of the Limbe Omnisport Stadium during the final stages of the Tunisia – Mali game, we were craving some good old football action. Hopefully, all 90 minutes of it.Sometimes we bank all our hopes and expectations on the matchups of the biggest teams in a tournament and we don’t give as much attention to fixtures between so-called minnows. But that approach is wrong – as two of the most inexperienced AFCON teams Mauritania and Gambia.The Scorpions of Gambia made it to their first-ever final tournament and effectively exceeded all expectations before the kick-off whistle was even blown. Tom Saintfiet, the Belgian globetrotting coach, had rather brief stints in charge of Malta, Trinidad and Tobago, Bangladesh, Togo, Malawi, Yemen, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Namibia – and quite a few others. But perhaps all his proverbial trotting of the globe was a winding road to get to the Gambia, the team that’s really thriving under his leadership.Looking sharper despite missing a few preparation friendlies leading up to the AFCON, the Scorpions looked far more competent than their Mauritanian counterparts. We’re not sure if the Lions of Chinguetti’s slow start had anything to do with the organisers’ failure to play their national anthem before the match – despite trying a few times.Just ten minutes into the game we’ve seen the nicest play. Ablie Jallow, the promising 23-year-old winger, latched onto a Musa Barrow pass around 20 metres out and fired a thunderous left-footer past Babacar Diop to score Gambia’s first-ever AFCON goal. The Metz winger, on loan at Seraing in Belgium, enters the history books of Africa mainland’s smallest country. The Lions pushed forward in search of a goal, knowing that their chances of getting away with points are certainly going to be better today than in the future meetings with Tunisia or Mali. Their Senegal-born, French-based forward Pape Ibnou Ba could and should have done better with his header in the final minutes of the first half.Mauritania captain Aboubakar Kamara was full of confidence thanks to his goalscoring exploits for Greek giants Aris, and he was in the centre of most of his team’s forays into the final third. The skipper came reasonably close to finding an equalizer was given a bit of space in the box, but his effort fizzled over the crossbar.Mauritania’s French coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa made a few changes in a feeble attempt to inject some vigour into his side but to no avail. Every time his players approached the opponents’ area, they would either misplace the final pass or simply dwell on the ball until they’d lost possession.The Gambia on the other side committed themselves to swift counter-attacks and came very close on a few occasions, with the best chance squandered by Omar Colley less than ten minutes after the restart after a sub-par header from a great position.Mauritania team huffed and puffed until the end, but their domination was merely an illusion as the Scorpions goalkeeper Modou Jobe barely had a save to make. And it was Jobe who thwarted Mauritania’s last chance by punching away an in-swinging free-kick.The final whistle was greeted with elation by the brave Gambians who will forever remember their dream debut at the African Cup of Nations.
