A goal from Musa Barrow, the most prominent player of the game, was enough for the happiness of Tom Saintfiet's men, who will face in the quarterfinals the winner of the match between Cameroon, host country of the competition, and Comoros, other surprise team, who face off later in the evening (8:00 p.m.).

It was right, but whatever.

At the end of a match still hanging, often padlocked, and finished ten against ten, the "Scorpions" clung to their dream.

Superior in the collective and tactical control of the match, the Gambians have long paid for their clumsiness or their haste to score.

So they relied on their striker Musa Barrow, who plays in Bologna (Italian Serie A).

From the start of the match, the spectators at the Stade de Kouekong, in Bafoussam, felt that it was from him that the spark would come: he first sent a missile from the left foot to 25 meters, turning around, too axial to deceive Aly Keita (13th), then accelerated, constantly, to bring danger.

The rigor of the "Scorpions"

In the second half, he rescued his team with a superb goal-oriented control to eliminate his defender, followed by a flat left foot.

The "Scorpions" then had a lot of luck, at the very end of the match, when two successive strikes from the Guineans hit the post, then the crossbar (90th + 2).

These offensive intentions came a little late for the "National Syli".

The absence of their captain Naby Keita, "star" according to coach Kaba Diawara, has severely handicapped Guinea.

Gambian midfielder Sulayman Marreh stops his Guinean rival Ilaix Moriba Kourouma (#14) in the round of 16 of the CAN in Bafoussam, January 24, 2022 Pius Utomi EKPEI AFP

Without the Liverpool midfielder, she too often lacked ideas in midfield, resigning herself to sending long passes to her forwards.

On the contrary, the "Scorpions" were rewarded for their strategic rigor, hailed after the final whistle by their Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet: "They are not individuals (individualities, editor's note) but it is a team that plays together , with a dream, with a strategy and each player is very disciplined and does everything to achieve this."

The adventure continues for this very small English-speaking country inserted in the middle of Senegal, of 11,295 m² weaving around the Gambia River.

The Scorpions will be back on Saturday for a spot in the semi-finals.

© 2022 AFP