Gambia, Burkina Faso fail to make Africa proud

Africa’s U-17 reigning champions, Gambia began their quest for glory at the FIFA U-17 Championships ongoing across the country on a sad note after falling 2-0 to Iran in a Group C encounter at the UJ Esuene Stadium yesterday.

Iran proves supremacy

Both teams approached the game cautiously but changed the tempo midway into the first half. Consistent pressure by the Iranians ensured a curtain raiser for them with two minutes to the end of the half.

Payam Sadeghian opened scoring for Iran, who is the reigning Asian U-17 kings; in the 44th minute when Gambian goalkeeper, Darboe Ousman in an attempt to clear a back pass missed giving a lurking Sedeghani the opportunity to take a long shot that sailed into the empty net.

Kaveh Rezaei added the second in the six minutes before full time after making a dribbling run into the 18th yard of the West Africans caught the goalkeeper napping.

Iran, which appeared more determined on claiming supremacy in the clash between the two continental champions, went into the match blazing forcing Gambia to commit countless fouls and committing almost as many fouls themselves.

In the 5th Lamin Samateh got booked in the 5th minute after illegally handling the ball, nine minutes later Buba Sama grabbed another after a rough challenge on an Iranian player.

By the final whistle, three Gambian players had been handed yellow cards with two others being sent off for unprofessional conduct.

While Iran had the better part of the first half, Gambia controlled the second but could not translate it into goals.

They wasted many scoring chances even when the Asian champions showed signs of fatigue caused by the scorching sun.

Burkina Faso goes down

Meanwhile, in the Group D match at the Nnamdi Azikwe stadium in Enugu, a hard fighting Burkina Faso fell by a lone goal to Turkey.

Turkey, who got into the tournament courtesy of a 1-0 victory over England’s U-17 team, which saw them picking the fifth and final qualification ticket available for European countries, showed the young Burkinabe they meant business when Burasaspor FC forward, Muhammet Demir scored a goal in the third minute.

The Africans will hope to rekindle their chances of qualifying from their groups on Wednesday when Gambia plays Netherlands while Burkina Faso tackles New Zealand.