Being the most popular tournament organised by almost all regions in The Gambia during the summer, Nawettan is taking center stage in various organising committees and among the most recent is the Sere kunda West Sports Committee .

The 2008 Nawettan of the Serrekunda West has started with its traditional qualifying round which kicked off yesterday with 32 teams vying for a place in this years tournament.

The Sectary General of (SWESO), Pa Sulay Jobe, told Pointsports that, “We have registered 32 teams for the qualification rounds these teams will be playing in a knock out stage. The best four teams will be meeting with last year’s four teams that were relegated from the Nawettan proper.”

He said  Dippa Kunda United, Sankung Sillah, Manjai United and SK Central will be waiting for the first four teams that  will emerge victorious from the 32 participating  teams in the qualifying round. They will then take part in a playoff match in which only four teams will qualify for the Nawettan competition.

Following the tricky formula for determining the best loser introduced by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the 2010 World and African Cup of nation qualifiers, the Scorpions of The Gambia seem to have a better prospect of qualification, if they win with goals when they host Liberia in Banjul in September 2008, and both Senegal and Algeria fail in their games in Algeria. Both teams need to win to secure their qualification to the next stage.

According to the CAF web-side, the 12 group winners in the first group phase and the eight best runners-up will advance to the second stage. A fair amount of mathematics will be required to discover those best runners-up, one of the 12 groups has only three teams, and CAF wants to give the runners-up in that group a fair chance of qualifying.

So rather than simply looking at points gained and goals difference to determine the best second placed teams a re-calculation will take place, while the runners up in group 11 which has three teams will have their statistics unchanged.

But in the other groups, the points and goal difference that the second placed teams have against the fourth placed team will be erased. The new total will then be used to determine the eight best runners-up using points gained, goal differences and goals scored.

CAF says that a play-off match will take place in November should there be a tie for the eight best runners-up spot.

The Gambia are in group 6 with Senegal, Algeria and Liberia. Senegal lead the group with 8 points, Algeria 6 points, The Gambia 5 points while Liberia have only 2point with four games played and only 2 games to go.

The game between Senegal and Algeria is a game of do or die, as both teams need to win to secure their qualification. Gambia needs to beat Liberia with goals to make sure goal difference will count. If The Gambia’s group falls among the best runners up group then we most win at home against Liberia and make sure we have a better goal difference than both Senegal and Algeria if both teams fail to win in their encounter, in Algeria.

If The Gambia wins it will give them 8 points, while Senegal needs a win or a point to remain on top. A draw will give them 9 points and a win will give them 11 points. Algeria need to win at home to see them on top with 9 points. If they fail to win against Senegal it will give The Gambia the chance to move into second position with 1 point difference if they draw with Senegal.

The Scorpions are heroes with a mission. Their mission is to capture three points from the Fennecs of Algeria or at the very worst secure one point. It is only by doing so that Gambian hopes of qualification for the World and African Cup of Nations can be kept alive. So far the Scorpions share the top of the table with Senegal as both teams have five points. The Scorpions have drawn 1-1 with Liberia, 0-0 with Senegal and defeated Algeria by 1-0 in Banjul. Algeria are in third position with three points and Liberia are in fourth with two points. As Coach Paul Put has advised, we should take this qualification campaign one game at a time. Our last match was played in Banjul against Algeria and was a success as the Scorpions maintained solid passing and controlled the game throughout the match. There are many fans however who believe that the boys could have netted a few more goals.

Be that as it may, that Algeria game is behind us now. The next encounter is again against Algeria but this time it is in Algiers. Although many fans will not be there to give support it is still hoped that the boys will tighten their belts, seize their goal-scoring opportunities and come home with a victory.

This is a legitimate hope on the part of the Gambian public. The team must realise their position in the race for qualification. The team may have received one or two knocks during the last match but are relatively free of injuries. Coach Put and his assistants are looking very sharp at the moment and are pushing the team technically as well as psychologically. We therefore wish the team a very successful game in Algiers. We advise the team to banish from their minds any fear of “terrorist threats”, especially seeing that the GFA has informed FIFA and the CAF of those filthy threats.

The Gambian media are commended for their efforts to speak with the boys and their accompanying officials, and are further encouraged to transmit relevant information and support from the fans at home.

As we are all probably aware, this weekend will reveal the overall standings of the teams prior to their taking a short break until September. The Gambia will in September end the present series by hosting Liberia here at home and playing away to Senegal.Final fixtures for the teams are :

Week-End of 5th-7thSeptember –

GAM Vs LIBERIA ( in Banjul)

ALGERIA Vs SENEGAL (in Algeria)

Week- End of 10thto 12thOctober

LIBERIA Vs ALGERIA (in Liberia)

SENEGAL Vs GAMBIA(in Senegal)

Name: Mariatou Ngum-Saidy

Date of Birth: 27th April 1986

Organisation: Daily Observer

Position: News Editor

Educational Background: Gambia Senior Secondary School, Banjul Institute for professional Studies (BIPS), Gambia telecommunication and Multimedia Institute

Qualification: 1. WASSCE certificate

2. Certificate in Travel, Tourism & Hospitality

3. Certificate in Information Technology

Gambian personality: The Gambian Vice President, Aja Dr Isatou Njie Saidy

Ambition: Gender Activist, and to study international relations

Hobbies: Read, writing and eating.

Advice to youths: Work hard and aim higher

Dislikes: Hypocrisy

Reason behind success: God and my family

Quiz of the week

We are pleased to announce that the correct answer to last week’s ‘Quiz of the week’ was Gambia Island, in Oceania, near Australia and South America. And the right answer one sent in by Lamin Trawally. And as we promised, a mimum prize awaits Mr Trawally. He may contact the Daily Observer through the usual number:
Tel. 9940123

The national Scorpions will commence training on Monday 17th March 2008 in preparation for a test match with Mauritania set for the 26th of this month in Banjul.

In partnership with Africell, The Gambia Football Association will stage the international friendly with the Mauritania side. It will serve as a testing ground for some of Gambia’s players who were just discovered plying their trade in Europe and are invited home by the FA for the friendly encounter.

A number of locally based players will commence training at the Independence Stadium on Monday as part of preparation for the encounter.

The Gambia Scorpions, who have been pitted in Group 6 with Senegal, Liberia, and Algeria, will have their first taste of the World and African cup qualifiers on May 31st, 2008, when they travel to Monrovia in Liberia.

Mauritania, like The Gambia, are simply dreaming of a maiden qualification for both competitions.

Abdelaziz Kamara, is Mauritania’s highest-ranked overseas player, even though his side Chateauroux play in France’s second division.

He is instrumental to the future of the national team, currently led by local coach Birama Gueye, as are two other factors.

In the past years, Mauritanian football has suffered too many setbacks. Which was as a result of the lack of wins by the national side for numerous years. Despite these depressing statistics, serious attempts were made to turn the team into a competitive outfit. This paid dividends in the last African Cup of Nations Ghana 2008 qualifiers when they finished second in Group 2.

The side spent nearly two years without a competitive fixture after failing to make the group stages for the joint 2006 Nations Cup and World Cup qualifiers.