Gambia coach Jonathan McKinstry has named a 25-man squad for two 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Ivory Coast, with Yankuba Minteh and Musa Barrow returning. The second Group C meeting with Ivory Coast will be played in Banjul on 17 November.
Gambia's qualification campaign
Gambia began its qualification campaign with a 2-1 win against Somalia and followed it with a 4-2 victory against Ghana. The Group C matches against Ivory Coast are scheduled for 12 November and 17 November.
Minteh and Barrow's fitness
Minteh missed the opening qualifiers against Somalia and Ghana because of an injury, while Barrow missed the opening Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against the same opponents due to injury. McKinstry said: “Musa (Barrow) has played a few games, scored a few goals and got Man of the Match in at least one, if not two, of his games. Both of them are fit and ready to go, though Musa probably has a little more match fitness than Yankuba (Minteh). We’ll assess that once they’re in camp with us.”
Two withdrawals through injury
The Gambia FA said Jesper Ceesay and Suleiman Camara withdrew from the squad due to injuries and will miss the double-header Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Ivory Coast. Midfielder Saidou Khan and winger Salieu Drammeh were called up as their replacements.
The Gambia FA said: “The Gambia FA regrets to announce that Jesper Ceesay and Suleiman Camara have unfortunately had to withdraw from the Scorpions squad due to injuries. The duo are also ruled out of our double-header AFCON qualifiers against the Ivory Coast. We wish both players a speedy recovery. Coach McKinstry has called up midfielder Saidou Khan and winger Salieu Drammeh as their replacements.”
McKinstry on Ivory Coast
McKinstry said: “We go in confident that we know we can go toe-to- toe with Ivory Coast. We know we’ve got to deal with their combinations, but we also know that they have some gaps that we can exploit.”
