{"id":89021,"date":"2025-10-30T20:32:46","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T20:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/tom-saintfiet-aims-for-semi-final-in-mali"},"modified":"2025-10-30T20:56:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T20:56:10","slug":"tom-saintfiet-aims-for-semi-final-in-mali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-saintfiet-aims-for-semi-final-in-mali","title":{"rendered":"Tom Saintfiet Aims for Semi-Final in Mali"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Mali head coach Tom Saintfiet firmly believes in the potential of his Eagles to shine at the Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025, even in a challenging Group A alongside hosts Morocco, Zambia, and the Comoros.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Backed by a rock-solid defence and a squad brimming with talent\u2014particularly in midfield\u2014the Belgian tactician has set a clear target: to go far, without fear or hesitation.<\/p>\n<p>A respected figure across African football, Saintfiet previously guided The Gambia to their first-ever two Afcon appearances (2021 &amp; 2023). Now, he is on a new mission: to deliver Mali the continental title that has eluded them for over half a century. Finalists in 1972 and semi-finalists on four occasions, the Eagles boast 13 AFCON appearances but still await their first crown.<\/p>\n<p>Just weeks before the opening match of the Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025, Saintfiet spoke exclusively to CAFOnline.com. Calm yet determined, he reflected on his journey and revealed his ambitions:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMali has the quality to stand among Africa\u2019s elite nations. What we need now are concrete results to confirm that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The numbers speak for themselves: in 12 competitive matches under Saintfiet, Mali have recorded 8 wins, 3 draws, and only 1 defeat\u2014averaging 2.25 points per game, the best record for a Mali coach since 2002. His team scores 1.83 goals per game while conceding only 0.25, evidence of a well-balanced side.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe fear no one, though we respect everyone,\u201d says Saintfiet. \u201cOur ambition is to stay in this competition until the very end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Gambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. Mali head coach Tom Saintfiet firmly believes in the potential of his Eagles to shine at the Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025, even in a challenging Group A alongside hosts Morocco, Zambia, and the Comoros. Backed by a rock-solid defence and a squad brimming with talent\u2014particularly in midfield\u2014the Belgian tactician has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":89020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-89021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tom Saintfiet Aims for Semi-Final in Mali - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mali head coach Tom Saintfiet firmly believes in the potential of his Eagles to shine at the Africa Cup of Nations Mo ...\" \/>\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-saintfiet-aims-for-semi-final-in-mali\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tom Saintfiet Aims for Semi-Final in Mali\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mali head coach Tom Saintfiet firmly believes in the potential of his Eagles to shine at the Africa Cup of Nations Mo ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-saintfiet-aims-for-semi-final-in-mali\" \/>\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=\"2025-10-30T20:32:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-30T20:56:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/sm_1761845131.727848.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\/tom-saintfiet-aims-for-semi-final-in-mali#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-saintfiet-aims-for-semi-final-in-mali\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Tom Saintfiet Aims for Semi-Final in Mali\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-30T20:32:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-30T20:56:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-saintfiet-aims-for-semi-final-in-mali\"},\"wordCount\":259,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-saintfiet-aims-for-semi-final-in-mali#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/sm_1761845131.727848.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-saintfiet-aims-for-semi-final-in-mali#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-saintfiet-aims-for-semi-final-in-mali\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/tom-saintfiet-aims-for-semi-final-in-mali\",\"name\":\"Tom Saintfiet Aims for Semi-Final in Mali - 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