Saintfiet: The Gambia wants to pursue its dream

Tom Saintfiet, coach of Gambia is proud of what the Scorpions did to the moment but refuses to stop at this point.

The Belgian coach will ask his players to fully take their chances in the quarterfinal of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, and Gambia has everything to gain in this game.

CAFOnline.com met Saintfiet who recounts the ambitions of an unexpected team for its first participation in a final phase of the Africa Cup of Nations.

CAFOnline.com: How do you live these moments?

Sainfiet: It is fantastic what is happening to us. I don't know if people remember that we started from the preliminaries against Djibouti. Then we qualified by finishing in first place in our group against Gabon, DR Congo and Angola, teams ranked higher than us. Here, we beat Mauritania and Tunisia (1-0) and drew against Mali (1-1), it's exceptional. Currently, we are in the quarterfinals after eliminating Guinea (1-0), it is simply a dream.

What explains the success of this Gambia side which discovers AFCON for the first time?

In truth, it is a process that started several years ago. We worked well for three and a half years, we created a group that knows our strategy, that pulls in the same direction. Everyone understands our way of working: the players, the staff, the Federation and the supporters. I'm really very proud.

How do you see your match against Cameroon?

It's already fantastic to be in the African top 8, but when you're there, it's because you deserve it. We do not want our dream to end even if it is Cameroon, a great team and in addition it is the host country. We want to win this quarterfinal. We know it won't be easy. Against Cameroon, all the players are available, it can help to get a good result. Cameroon are big favorites, we have to relax and play our football.