A header deep in the second half from Alagie Saine gave The Gambia a 1-0 victory over Tunisia and three points from their opening match at the 2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations on Tuesday in Alexandria, Egypt. Saine’s header came off Tunisia goalkeeper Raed Gazzeh for an own goal after a match where both teams struggled to create opportunities but the Young Scorpions will have no complaints with a positive start to Group C play. The Gambia face Zambia in their next match on Friday while Tunisia take on Benin.
The first half was a dreary affair where both teams struggled to find their footing on an Alexandria Stadium pitch that was not in ideal condition. There were moments of quality from the two talented sides but outside of some hopeful long range efforts it was a back-and-forth affair that was mostly played in the middle third of the pitch.
After the halftime break it was mostly the same for the first twenty-five minutes. Tunisia had the better of play during this stretch with captain Ghaith Ouahabi misfiring a shot off target in the 47th minute before some scrappy play from Adem Garreb led to his tame 58th minute effort being easily handled by Gambia keeper Pa Ebou Dampha.
The Young Scorpions wrestled control of the match in the final half hour and started to put pressure on Gazzeh. An 84th minute corner kick led to the winning moment for Gambia when Muhamed Sawaneh’s corner kick was punched out by to the left wing by Gazzeh, where Sainey Sanyang’s cross picked out Saine for a well directed header that hit the far post and came back just over the goal line off the diving goalkeeper.
Video of the winning goal is below.
