The Gambia U-20 men’s football team will today trade tackles with their Moroccan counterparts in Casablanca. The game is the first leg of the second round of qualifiers for the Afcon youth tournament, which will be staged in Nigeria. Gambian fans and analysts will keenly watch the performance of the team amid much criticism of Lamin Sarr’s team selection.

The team he picked for the encounter against the Moroccans will feature a mix of players from the U-20 team that took part in the last nation’s cup and players who are yet to feature in the U-20. The likes of Saikou Gassama, Mamut Saine, Omar Colley, Saikou Jawneh and Lamin Samateh will again aim to have another shot at the nation’s cup. They will be joined by new faces such as Bubacarr Sanneh, Saloum Faal and Bubacarr Trawally amongst others.

The Moroccans who eliminated Mauritania to progress to the second round of the qualifiers will hope to make the most of the home advantage when they host the young scorpions. Twenty-four players have been called up for the game by coach Hassan Benabicha who started preparations for this encounter since May. The junior Atlas Lions will hope to get a positive result against the young scorpions when the match kicks-off at 22: 00 GMT.