As the dust settled on the 2010 African Nations Cup finals in Angola, the stage is now set for African teams to learn who they will face in the qualifying rounds for the 2012 African Nations Cup finals to be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

The Gambia are among 48 African nations that will learn their opponents and match dates when the qualifying round draw for the 28th edition of the biennial event take place on Saturday, February 20, in Lubumbashi, DR Congo. With the Confederation of African Football (CAF) not specifying the format of the draw, there exists a probability that the Scorpions can face any of the big guns in the draw, which will spell the composition of groups.

The Gambia, under the tutelage of Belgian coach Paul Put, narrowly missed out on a place in the 2010 finals. But as the race for the 2012 is set to begin, the highly publicized Belgian tactician will be under intense pressure to prove his worth by leading the Gambia to their first-ever African Nations Cup finals in Gabon-Equatorial Guinea. "2012 is our time and we cannot afford to miss out" a well respected Gambian football pundit, who preferred anonymity, told Observer Sports. "I expect all of us to work together and ensure that we qualify for the 2012 finals. The coach, in particular, must also note that there will be no room for excuse should we fail to qualify because he [coach] has the whole time in the world to better prepare his team for the qualifying rounds," he concluded.