Gamtel face Sfaxien in CAF Confederation Cup tie

Gamtel Football Club

Gambia FA Cup champions Gamtel, will on Sunday face Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 side Club Sportif Sfaxien in the first leg of the Confederation Cup round of 32 at the Stade Taïeb Mhiri in Sfax.

To get to this stage of the continental competition, the ‘Telecommunication boys’ outclassed Senegalese club Association Sportive et Culturelle HLM in the preliminary round 5-2 on aggregate.

Occupying fourth-place in the league with 12 points, coach Tapha Manneh’s side will be hoping to make it past this stage of the competition where they were booted out the last time by Malien Premiere Division club AS Real Bamako.

But it is going to be difficult for the Gambian FA Cup champions against one of the big Tunisian clubs, who will be looking to mark their fifth appearance in the Confederation Cup.

Currently leading the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 with 22 points, Juventus Al Arab have just strung together three consecutive wins against Hammam-Lif [1-0], Hammam-Sousse [1-2] and Stade Gabésien [0-2].

But Dutch technician Ruud Krol’s protégés will undoubtedly want to assure the three points in front of their home crowd at the 30,000-capacity Stade Taïeb Mhiri stadium in Sfax, before heading to The Gambia for the second leg tie in the weekend of 5-7 April.

If they hope to get past the Juventus Al Arab hurdle, the cup champions will therefore have to garner at least a point in Sfax, or score a crucial away goal without falling too heavily. The match is expected to kickoff at 15:00 GMT.