MATCH FACTS: Gambia push for quarter-final place at TotalEnergies CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Morocco 2025

Gambia will seek the win that will take them into the quarter-finals of the TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Morocco 2025 when they take on Tunisia in their final Group C game at the Berrechid Municipal Stadium on Monday (kick-off 19:00 local time / 18:00 GMT).

Gambia have three points from their opening two games, one behind pool leaders Tunisia (four points), with Senegal (also four points) sandwiched in between the pair.

A draw will not be enough for the side as even if Senegal are stunned by Somalia, they would be behind the Senegalese on the head-to-head rule.The top two teams in each group advance to the quarter-finals and book a place at the 2025 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, while the teams that finish third enter a play-off for the two remaining places at the global finals.
This will be the first meeting between the nations at the TotalEnergies CAF U17 AFCON.

For Gambia, this is their third clash against North African opposition. Both previous games were against Algeria. In 2009, they defeated the then hosts twice, winning 2-0 in their final group game and 3-1 in the finals.

Tunisia are facing a sixth different West African opponent having previously met Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.

Tunisia’s record against West African opponents at the finals reads P7 W1 D1 L5.

Tunisia have won only won one of their previous seven games, a 3-0 victory against Togo in the 2007 group stages.

GAMBIA FACTS
·      Gambia won their second group game against Somalia after losing their opening game against Senegal.

·      Gambia could progress with a win or a  draw. Should they manage to progress, they will have gone past the group stages for a third time along with 2005 and 2009.

·      Gambia should they progress will qualify for the FIFA U17 World Cup for a third time, with previous appearances in 2005 and 2009.

·      Gambia in four previous third group games at the finals have one win against Algeria in 2009. In their other three games they drew with Cameroon in 2003, and lost to Ghana 1-0 in 2005 and 4-1 to Cote d’Ivoire in 2011.

·      Gambia’s biggest loss at the finals came in that final group game in 2011 to the Cote d’Ivoire (4-1).

·      Gambia’s 5-1 win over Somalia in their last game was their joint biggest victory at the finals along with a 4-0 win over Malawi in the 2009 semi-finals.

·      Alieu Drammeh, scorer of a hat-trick in Gambia’s 5-1 win over Somalia, is the first Gambian player to score a treble at the finals.   

·      Victory for Gambia will see them win two group games in a row for the third time. They did so in 2005 when winning their opening two games against Burkina Faso and Mali. They also won successive games when winning all three group games in 2009.

·      Gambia have scored five goals in the group stages at the current finals, the joint most they have scored in the pool phase along with 2009 when they scored five in their three group games.

·      Gambia have not kept a clean-sheet in their last five group games. They last kept a clean-sheet in a group game in their final group match in 2009, a 0-0 draw against Cameroon.

·      Against Somalia, Gambia managed just 129 accurate passes while their opponents were able to make 215.

TUNISIA FACTS
·      Won their first game 3-0 against Somalia, then drew with defending champions Senegal 0-0.

·      Prior to their draw against Senegal, the Tunisians had managed to score in their previous six games at the finals. Five games in 2013 and one game at the current tournament. They failed to score for the first time since their 1-0 loss against Ghana in the play-off for third in 2007.

·      A draw will be enough for Tunisia to progress to the next round.

·      Progression will see them move to the knockout stage for a third time along with 2007 and 2013. Their only previous group stage elimination was in 1995.

·      Tunisia have managed to go undefeated through their first two group games for a third time. They also did so in 2007 (W1 D1) and 2013 (W2).

·      Tunisia have begun with successive clean-sheets for only the second time along with 2007 when drawing with Gabon 0-0 and winning 3-0 against Togo.

·      Should Tunisia not concede they would go through a group phase without letting a goal in for the first time.

·      Tunisia’s record in their final group game reads P3 W2 D0 L1. In their final group games in the past, in 1997 they lost 7-0 to Ghana, drew 2-2 with South Africa in 2007, a game in which they needed a point, and having already qualified for the semi-finals in 2013, they drew with Morocco 1-1.

·      Should Tunisia qualify for the 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup, it will be their fourth appearance at the finals along with 1993, 2007 and 2016.

·      Tunisia did not manage a single shot on target in their draw with Senegal. They faced four with goalkeeper Slim Bouaskar making four saves.

·      In their draw with Senegal, the Tunisian’s only managed 119 accurate passes.