Fresh from securing qualification to the African Cup of Nations, the Gambia will play two international friendly matches in a training camp to be held in the Turkish resort city of Antalya next month.

The training camp for the next FIFA window between May 31 to 12th June has been finalised and Tom Saintfiet’s charges will first have a June 5 date with fellow AFCON debutants Comoros before rounding up the camp with a titanic battle against Kosovo on 11th June.

The Gambia will use this training camp to prepare for the Total Africa Cup of Nations to be held in Cameroon next year.

The choices of opponents were limited due to the unavailability of the majority of the African countries that will be involved in World Cup qualifiers during the same window.

However, that notwithstanding, it must be noted that the two opponents aren’t pushovers either. The duo is currently ranked ahead of The Gambia on the FIFA rankings and Head Coach Tom Saintfiet has expressed his delight that The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) has arranged the camp with the pair of friendlies against these two strong sides.

Kosovo is currently ranked 120 in the world, 32 places above The Gambia on the global podium. In the last FIFA window in March, they played three World Cup qualifiers where they annihilated Lithuania, a country ranked 129 in the world.

Comoros, just like The Gambia, will be making their first ever appearance at an African Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon next year. Les Coelacantes finished second in their qualifying group behind Egypt but ranked ahead of Kenya and 2006 World Cup finalists Togo, who both failed to qualify.

Comoros is currently 21 positions ahead of The Gambia on the FIFA World Rankings at 131.

Soka25east.com