Gambia to play Mauritania friendlies

Gambia local-based team

The Gambia national football team will play two friendly matches against its Mauritanian counterparts on 27th February and 2nd March at the Independence Stadium in Bakau.

The matches are being used by the Gambian team to prepare for its next match against Ivory Coast in the qualifying series for the 2014 FIFA World Cup slated for Brazil.

The Scorpions team will virtually consist of only local-based players though Sandefjord’s Tijan Jaiteh, clubless Dawda Bah and Abdou Jammeh could be surprise inclusions in head coach Luciano Mancini’s squad.

The Mourabitounes of Mauritania, coached by Frenchman Patrice Neveu, are already in the country and will use these test games for their next match against Senegal in the 2014 African Nations Championships (CHAN) qualifiers.

Mauritania is arguably one of the weakest teams of Africa but their football seems to be growing at the moment as they got surprising victories against Liberia a few months ago.

They have also risen in the latest FIFA Rankings and are ranked 168th position in the world and 44th in Africa while they were 202nd. Majority of their players are generally playing in the Mauritanean Premier League.