The vice president of the Gambia Football Association, Lieutenant-General Langtombong Tamba, is not worried about the prospect of facing any big guns when the official draw for the FIFA U-17 World Cup is held today in Abuja, Nigeria.

The Gambia, who currently wear the African kings' tag, will alongside 23 other qualified countries be drawn into six groups of four teams. With the format of the draw still not clear due to the non-confirmation of all the venues by FIFA, the Baby Scorpions could meet any of the big guns including Germany, Spain, Argentina and even Brazil who remain the only other country to have won the championship three times.

Despite the probability of Gambia meeting some of these feared nations in global football, the GFA No 2, who doubles as the president of the Gambia National Olympic Committee, insisted the two-time African champions are not scared of anybody. "We are prepared to to face any team among the 23," Tamba said in an interview with West Radio yesterday.

"What is more important is early preparation. We will take who we get and believe that we can go all the way."  "We had a very good preparation before the Algeria championship and that's why we brought the cup. So if we follow the same trend this time around, we would have nothing to scare about." Besides Gambia, Africa will be represented by four other countries: host Nigeria, Algeria; Malawi and Burkina Faso.

Other participating nations are: Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, USA (CONCACAF); Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay (South America); New Zealand (Oceania); Iran, Japan, UAE, Korea Republic (Asia); Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey (Europe).