{"id":39668,"date":"2023-07-26T15:27:54","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T15:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/saintfiet-i-hope-the-stadium-is-ready"},"modified":"2023-07-26T16:05:45","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T16:05:45","slug":"saintfiet-i-hope-the-stadium-is-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/saintfiet-i-hope-the-stadium-is-ready","title":{"rendered":"SAINTFIET: I HOPE THE STADIUM IS READY"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Gambian coach Tom Saintfiet has said he hopes that the Independence Stadium currently under renovation is ready to enable the national team to play there. The Coach was talking to Africasports.com about his reaction to the World Cup 2026 draw.<\/b><\/p>\n

The Gambia is placed in Group F alongside Co\u0302te d\u2019Ivoire, Gabon, Kenya, Burundi and Seychelles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to play in front of our fans. Everyone knows it\u2019s important to take points at home, and it\u2019s better to play in front of your fans. I hope the stadium will be ready,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Gambia coach also told africasports.com that even though Co\u0302te d\u2019Ivoire are the group favourites, with top-class players, but they don\u2019t seem to him to be of the same quality as Morocco or Senegal. \u201cGabon is also a good team. We\u2019ll have to respect everyone and be wary of the Seychelles, but I think Gambia could have a role to play,\u201d explains Tom who hopes that Gambia, whose stadium in Banjul is not approved by CAF, will finally be able to play at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Afcon qualifier<\/p>\n

Though the coach\u2019s interview was focused in the World Cup, there is an even more urgent pressure for work on the stadium to be completed to acceptable levels soon. The Scorpions need only a point in the final qualifying match on 4 September, which means drawing Congo to reach their second Afcon finals. But with match day getting closer fans are on the edge as to whether Caf will approve the stadium to host this crucial match.<\/p>\n

Already a Caf inspection team has hinted that much more work need to be done both in and outside the stadium. The government and contractors are working on the clock to ensure that the facility is approved by Caf on their next inspection visit next month.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Gambian coach Tom Saintfiet has said he hopes that the Independence Stadium currently under renovation is ready to enable the national team to play there. The Coach was talking to Africasports.com about his reaction to the World Cup 2026 draw. The Gambia is placed in Group F alongside Co\u0302te d\u2019Ivoire, Gabon, Kenya, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":39667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-39668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nSAINTFIET: I HOPE THE STADIUM IS READY - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gambian coach Tom Saintfiet has said he hopes that the Independence Stadium currently under renovation is ready to en ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/saintfiet-i-hope-the-stadium-is-ready\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SAINTFIET: I HOPE THE STADIUM IS READY\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gambian coach Tom Saintfiet has said he hopes that the Independence Stadium currently under renovation is ready to en ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/saintfiet-i-hope-the-stadium-is-ready\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-26T15:27:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-26T16:05:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/07\/sm_1690370788.057923.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/saintfiet-i-hope-the-stadium-is-ready#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/saintfiet-i-hope-the-stadium-is-ready\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"SAINTFIET: I HOPE THE STADIUM IS READY\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-26T15:27:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-26T16:05:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/saintfiet-i-hope-the-stadium-is-ready\"},\"wordCount\":329,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/saintfiet-i-hope-the-stadium-is-ready#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/07\/sm_1690370788.057923.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/saintfiet-i-hope-the-stadium-is-ready#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/saintfiet-i-hope-the-stadium-is-ready\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/saintfiet-i-hope-the-stadium-is-ready\",\"name\":\"SAINTFIET: I HOPE THE STADIUM IS READY - 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