{"id":51125,"date":"2024-01-12T18:44:35","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T18:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?p=51125"},"modified":"2024-01-12T15:48:22","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T15:48:22","slug":"gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again","title":{"rendered":"Gambia relishing chance to serve as AFCON giant-killers all over again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Tiny Gambia might find themselves facing a tough proposition in their group at the Africa Cup of Nations finals but coach Tom Saintfiet reckons none of their fancied opponents will be relishing going up against his side.<\/b><\/p>\n

Gambia, whose population of some 2.64 million pales in comparison to most countries at this month\u2019s tournament in the Ivory Coast, are competing at the finals for a second time but in their debut appearance two years ago were giant-killers and progressed to the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m aware that it will be tough to repeat what we did two years ago. Cameroon, Guinea and Senegal are all top contenders and it is a group of death but I don\u2019t think any of them is pleased about the prospect of going up against us,\u201d Saintfiet said in an interview with Reuters.<\/p>\n

Gambia, who start their Group C campaign against holders Senegal in Yamoussoukro on Monday, have progressed rapidly since the arrival of the nomadic Belgian, who had nine different national team coaching jobs before moving to West Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I arrived, Gambia were 172 in the world, and they had not won a competitive match for five years. My first salary was the least I\u2019d ever earned but I had made an analysis of the team and I felt there was potential,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told the federation president I\u2019d qualify them for the Cup of Nations but he laughed and said \u2018First win a match\u2019. But they gave me the freedom to do my job and we slowly built a successful process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gambia qualified top of their group to make the 24-team field for the 2021 tournament and continued the upsets at the finals in Cameroon, beating Tunisia and Guinea before succumbing to the hosts in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

The recipe two years ago was a determination to stay involved in the tournament as long as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur attitude was we are not just happy to be here; rather we\u2019ll only be happy if we stay as long as possible here. I think that determination was the strength of the team. They were heartbroken when we finally went home,\u201d Saintfiet said.<\/p>\n

Behind his desk at home in Belgium, Saintfiet has a display of 10 football shirts \u2013 all of the different national teams he has coached. His first was Namibia in 2008, and since he has worked in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Yemen, Malawi, Togo, Bangladesh, Trinidad & Tobago and Malta before Gambia.<\/p>\n

Some of the assignments lasted only months but the 50-year-old says he drew from each experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look back, each job helped me to be a better coach, giving me unique insights and helping me learn from mistakes,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

His stewardship of Gambia is without a doubt his most successful mission to date and there is every determination to upset the odds all over again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are underdogs but we like it that way,\u201d Saintfiet said.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Gambia. Tiny Gambia might find themselves facing a tough proposition in their group at the Africa Cup of Nations finals but coach Tom Saintfiet reckons none of their fancied opponents will be relishing going up against his side. Gambia, whose population of some 2.64 million pales in comparison to most countries at this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":51124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-51125","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":"\nGambia relishing chance to serve as AFCON giant-killers all over again - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tiny Gambia might find themselves facing a tough proposition in their group at the Africa Cup of Nations finals but c ...\" \/>\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\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gambia relishing chance to serve as AFCON giant-killers all over again\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tiny Gambia might find themselves facing a tough proposition in their group at the Africa Cup of Nations finals but c ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again\" \/>\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=\"2024-01-12T18:44:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/01\/sm_1705061592.013394.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=\"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\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Gambia relishing chance to serve as AFCON giant-killers all over again\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-12T18:44:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again\"},\"wordCount\":507,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/01\/sm_1705061592.013394.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\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again\",\"name\":\"Gambia relishing chance to serve as AFCON giant-killers all over again - Gambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/01\/sm_1705061592.013394.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-12T18:44:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Tiny Gambia might find themselves facing a tough proposition in their group at the Africa Cup of Nations finals but c ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/01\/sm_1705061592.013394.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/01\/sm_1705061592.013394.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Gambia relishing chance to serve as AFCON giant-killers all over again\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gambia relishing chance to serve as AFCON giant-killers all over again\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\",\"name\":\"Gambia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gambia relishing chance to serve as AFCON giant-killers all over again - Gambia","description":"Tiny Gambia might find themselves facing a tough proposition in their group at the Africa Cup of Nations finals but c ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gambia relishing chance to serve as AFCON giant-killers all over again","og_description":"Tiny Gambia might find themselves facing a tough proposition in their group at the Africa Cup of Nations finals but c ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again","og_site_name":"Gambia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2024-01-12T18:44:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/01\/sm_1705061592.013394.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Gambia relishing chance to serve as AFCON giant-killers all over again","datePublished":"2024-01-12T18:44:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again"},"wordCount":507,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/01\/sm_1705061592.013394.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\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again","name":"Gambia relishing chance to serve as AFCON giant-killers all over again - Gambia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/01\/sm_1705061592.013394.jpg","datePublished":"2024-01-12T18:44:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Tiny Gambia might find themselves facing a tough proposition in their group at the Africa Cup of Nations finals but c ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/01\/sm_1705061592.013394.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/01\/sm_1705061592.013394.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Gambia relishing chance to serve as AFCON giant-killers all over again"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-relishing-chance-to-serve-as-afcon-giant-killers-all-over-again#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gambia relishing chance to serve as AFCON giant-killers all over again"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/","name":"Gambia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}