{"id":45033,"date":"2023-10-16T20:43:31","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T20:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?p=45033"},"modified":"2023-10-16T19:27:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T19:27:53","slug":"tom-this-is-the-group-of-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-this-is-the-group-of-death","title":{"rendered":"TOM: THIS IS THE GROUP OF DEATH"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>The Gambia manager Tom Saintfiet has said his team has been handed the \u201cgroup of death\u201d at next year\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).<\/b><\/p>\n

Africa\u2019s smallest mainland country found themselves pitted against holders Senegal in Thursday\u2019s draw for the tournament in Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n

Five-time champions Cameroon and Guinea also feature in Group C.<\/p>\n

All four teams advanced from the group stage at the delayed Afcon 2021, with The Gambia reaching the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the clear underdog. I used that a lot in the last Afcon that we are small and they are big,\u201d Saintfiet told BBC Sport Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt suited us but this group is much more difficult this time \u2013 we have the group of death.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe face the current African champions, the semi-finalists of the last Afcon in Cameroon, and Guinea, who reached the knockout round last time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gambia were eliminated by hosts Cameroon at the quarter-final stage in 2022.<\/p>\n

It was a remarkable debut at the tournament, including a win over Tunisia to qualify from the group.<\/p>\n

In the first knockout round they eliminated Guinea, who they must now face again.<\/p>\n

The Gambia are ranked 98 places below group stage opponents Senegal, 80 beneath Cameroon and 37 behind Guinea<\/p>\n

The real excitement, though, surrounds their meeting with Afcon holders and geographical rivals Senegal, whose squad includes reigning African Footballer of the Year Sadio Mane and Edouard Mendy, who finished third in the running for the award.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very tough group but nice that we can play against the Africa champions and our neighbours from the Sene-Gambia region,\u201d said Saintfiet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my five years of coaching, and almost daily, it\u2019s been: \u2018When are we going to play against Senegal?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a big game for people and a game they\u2019ve looked forward to for years. Now it\u2019s our opening game. If we beat Senegal, history will be made.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be amazing, but we will be prepared. We are an ambitious team and we are not happy just to be there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to go further. In that way I\u2019m not happy, as it\u2019s a very tough group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saintfiet, 50, is not alone in having high expectations.<\/p>\n

The Belgian, who has also coached Zimbabwe, Namibia, Malawi and Togo on the continent, has to temper the expectations for the second-lowest ranked group of players at the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a realistic want,\u201d he continued. \u201cBut we are 118th in the world. Only Tanzania [122nd] are ranked worse [among teams in the tournament].<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the last Afcon, our public expect the semi-finals, final or even becoming champions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the vibe after the last Afcon \u2013 even by journalists. People think we can beat everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic feeling, but the reality is that we have to play every game at 100% to gain points.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be fantastic if we can reach the second round \u2013 that is the biggest task and then we take it from there.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting out of this group with three giants in African football will be tough \u2013 but we are there to compete and want to stay for as long as possible in Ivory Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n

The finals \u2013 pushed back from summer of 2023 due to weather conditions \u2013 will feature 24 teams and run from 13 January until 11 February 2024.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Gambia. The Gambia manager Tom Saintfiet has said his team has been handed the \u201cgroup of death\u201d at next year\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon). Africa\u2019s smallest mainland country found themselves pitted against holders Senegal in Thursday\u2019s draw for the tournament in Ivory Coast. Five-time champions Cameroon and Guinea also feature in Group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":45032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-45033","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":"\nTOM: THIS IS THE GROUP OF DEATH - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Gambia manager Tom Saintfiet has said his team has been handed the \u201cgroup of death\u201d at next year\u2019s Africa Cup of ...\" \/>\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\/tom-this-is-the-group-of-death\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TOM: THIS IS THE GROUP OF DEATH\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Gambia manager Tom Saintfiet has said his team has been handed the \u201cgroup of death\u201d at next year\u2019s Africa Cup of ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-this-is-the-group-of-death\" \/>\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=\"2023-10-16T20:43:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/10\/sm_1697471697.648289.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\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=\"3 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\/tom-this-is-the-group-of-death#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-this-is-the-group-of-death\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"TOM: THIS IS THE GROUP OF DEATH\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-16T20:43:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-this-is-the-group-of-death\"},\"wordCount\":564,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-this-is-the-group-of-death#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/10\/sm_1697471697.648289.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\/tom-this-is-the-group-of-death#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-this-is-the-group-of-death\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-this-is-the-group-of-death\",\"name\":\"TOM: THIS IS THE GROUP OF DEATH - 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