The State of Play
Under the management of Tom Saintfiet, Gambia began their tournament with a reasonable performance. Down to ten men, they were beaten 3-0 by Senegal but did give a good account of themselves. Now, though, they must win, hope for a fairly hefty goal difference swing and then wait on other results to stand any chance of progressing as a third placed team.
Cameroon have endured a complicated and underwhelming campaign, underpinned by the bizarre decision-making of Andre Onana, both on and off the pitch. They began with a 1-1 draw against Guinea before a 3-1 defeat to Senegal and must now react with a victory enough to see them through but they are a ‘big name’ that are, like a few teams at AFCON, underperforming.
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Team News
In their opening game against Senegal, Cardiff City central midfielder Ebou Adams was shown a straight red card just before half-time but he could now return for this one after serving his suspension against Guinea.
Rigobert Song replaced Fabrice Ondoa with the returning Andre Onana in their second game against Senegal. The Cameroonians will have a few injury concerns over Enzo Tchato, after he was forced off and replaced by Stoke City defender Junior Tchamadeu.
Expected Line-ups
Gambia: Gaye; Janko, Gomez, O. Colley, Mendy; Sundberg, Darboe; E. Colley, Jallow, Fadera; Barrow
Cameroon: Onana; Castelletto, Wooh, Tolo, Tchamadeu; Kemen, Neyou, Anguissa; Ngamaleu, Magri, Nkoudou
What they Said
Gambia boss, Tom Saintfiet, has said his side remain hopeful of progression. “I’ll stay positive because we dd it against a difficult quality team like Guinea.” He went on to say “We’re still alive the situation has just got more complicated.”
Rigobert Song has said he is unconcerned by the pressure he is under after Cameroon’s disappointing campaign. “I’ve experienced pressure since I very young, I’ve known it, pressure, as a player. It’s part of the game; you win, you’re strong but you lose, you’re bad. I’m not getting into this game.”
When and How to Watch
The game at the Stade de la Paix will kick off at 20:00 on Tuesday January 23rd and will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK. Subscribers to Sky Sports can alternately stream the game online via the ‘Sky Go’ app.
Prediction
Gambia have some exciting attacking talent, such as Ebrima Colley and Musa Barrow, and they are likely to take the game to Cameroon as they seek an unlikely qualification for the knockout stages. They face a Cameroonian side that appear to be waiting for some magic formula to click. The Cameroonians have enough talent to defeat most, if not all, sides in the competition but both teams scoring would seem a likely outcome for this one, regardless of the match result, given their vulnerabilities.
