Gambia'05: It is not over yet - Duncan

(FROM: William Ezah, GNA Special Correspondent, courtesy Slok Air, International)

Banjul, Gambia, May 12, GNA - Coach David Duncan, technical director of the national under-17 team, the Black Starlets has declared that it is not over yet for the team despite their surprised 1-2 loss to Burkina Faso in the second match of group A last Tuesday.

"We still have one match at hand and we are going to do everything possible to win that game to enhance our chances of making it to the next stage".

Coach Duncan said in a post match interview with the GNA Sports in Banjul. According to the coach, the results of the game between Ghana and Burkina Faso makes qualification in the Group an open one and any of the teams can still scale through.

"Football is a game of uncertainties and anything can happen, but we are confident of getting back into the competition again with a victory on Friday".

The Coach, who ascribed the last defeat of his side to the absence of Solom Addy in the defence, is hopeful of having the defender on the starting line up for the Friday game against the Gambia.

Coach Duncan is confident that the nightmares experienced in his team's defence when they played against Burkina Faso would be over, saying that he is hoping to have a better team for the last crucial game against the host, the Gambians.

Addy, who could not complete the game against Mali as a result of a knock on his waist is likely to appear in the game against Gambia following a drastic improvement in his health.

The player, according to the technical team will train on Thursday and based on his condition, he will be made to play in the crucial game. Meanwhile, the technical team seem to have been given a rude awakening following the defeat and this has drawn them into series of meetings in search of solutions after the defeat.

The technical team on Wednesday afternoon had a marathon meeting with the playing body as part of efforts to get the team back to the winning ways.

Prior to the meeting, some of the reasons gathered from the camp in connection the defeat indicated that it was due to excessive training by the boys, whilst others attributed it to the late arrival of the team at the stadium for the match, hence their inability to have enough warm up exercise.

Other reasons also ascribed to the defeat is the inability of the players to have their lunch earlier ahead of the match and this was said to have affected their movement on the pitch as they looked heavy. Coach Duncan is yet to confirm these reasons and the meeting on Wednesday afternoon will provide the way forward.