Gambia’s AFCON Qualification Chances Slim

The Gambia could kiss goodbye their chances of ever qualifying to this year’s Africa Cup of Nations if Benin goes ahead to win on Sunday.

The Scorpion climbed to third place after drawing table-toppers Algeria 1-1 yesterday evening.

The West African nation came from behind to force a share of the spoils just as in their first-leg meeting last September.

A late comeback fuelled by desperation engineered an equalizer from 34-year-old defender Futty Danso for the Scorpions.

The encounter saw hosts Algeria dominate seventy-three percent of possession against Gambia’s fifteen fouls, six shots on target and two corners. The Desert Foxes raced into an early lead near the end of the game when gaffer Tom Saintfiet reversed from his peculiar formation of using nine defenders to an attacking trend with the introduction of Serie A striker Musa Barrow, who was surprisingly left to warm the bench for former Spain youth striker Nuha Marong.

By this time, the heat has turned wildly on the Algerians who had nothing to fight for as the visitors began pestering. Then a loose ball led to a swift counter-attack with the ball swerving down Musa Barrow’s path who laid it out for an on-time and overlapping Futty Danso to smack home for a 1-1 stalemate.

With six points in the bag, Gambia’s qualifying is dependent on the Court of Arbitration for Sports ruling in their favor regarding their player eligibility case against Togo, while hoping Benin doesn’t win against the Sparrow Hawks.