Toubabo comments on poor travel arrangements

Gambia international and RAEC Mons midfielder Mustapha “Toubabo” Jarju has commented on the Scorpions’ travel arrangements for their 2014 Brazil World Cup qualifier against Tanzania in Dar es Salaam at the weekend.

The Scorpion skipper, who was speaking in an interview following their 2-1 loss to the Taifa Stars partly blamed the arrangements as the reason for their defeat. He said the journey was very far.

They had to travel from Banjul, to Senegal, Burkina Faso, Kenya and Tanzania. The weather in Tanzania was very hot, which was another contributing factor to their defeat, the Scorpion team captain pointed out.

Toubabo said they are disappointed with the outcome, especially after leading for the most part of the game. He also said going through five countries for the game “definitely took its toll” on the team.

“We are disappointed we were leading 1-0 in the first half and then conceded very bad goals. Tanzania played better football than us,” he admitted, saying: “If you can imagine how we travelled - we flew to Senegal then to Burkina Faso then Kenya, then here [Tanzania].”

“We arrived here on Friday and it was difficult for all players to recover and play this difficult game. What can we do? We have to do our best.”