Gambia’s young sensation Omar Badjie came off the bench to put in a man-of-the-match performance. It helped the Scorplings keep their perfect record in the WAFU-A CAF AFCON qualifier tournament in Senegal.
The Gambia U-17 team made it two wins in two with a thrilling 3-1 victory over Mauritania at Stade Lat Dior in Thies, with goals from Alieu Saine, Omar Badjie, and Muhammed Jatta.
Young prodigy Alieu Saine continued his goalscoring form with a magnificent header in the 13th minute from Omar Marong’s perfect delivery to give the Scorplings a 1-0 lead at the break. Mauritania responded four minutes after the restart to level the score.
But Coach Yahya Manneh’s substitutions again proved decisive as Omar Badjie and Muhammed Jatta came off the bench to score in the 78th and 90+4 minutes, respectively, as the Scorplings recorded a convincing 3-1 victory over Mauritania.
With six points from two games, The Gambia has secured its spot in the semifinals with a game to go. Meanwhile, Gambia U-20 Coach Abdoulie Bojang will stage a U-20 screening friendly match tomorrow, Friday, 11th September, 2026, at the Ousman Saho Football Field in Old Yundum at 4.00PM. This follows the successful assessment of both first- and second-division trialists in the ongoing screening exercise,
The friendly will feature last week’s second-division selection against the first-division selection to determine who earns a spot on the final list.
The screening aims to identify and assess the best young talent to build a formidable squad to represent the country at the WAFU A TotalEnergies AFCON U-20 qualifiers in October.
