AFRICA Cup of Nations debutants Gambia qualified for the last 16 of the tournament this week with a game to spare.

Their impressive showing at the competition continued on Thursday night when they won their final group game against Tunisia, setting up a tie with Guinea in the first knockout round.

It was fitting that Ablie Jallow scored the winning goal in injury time against Tunisia, as it was he who netted the winning penalty against Djibouti back in October 2019 to begin their journey to Afcon 2021.

That meeting with Djibouti more than two years ago was a pre-qualifier to determine which of several lower-ranked teams in the Confederation of African Football would progress to the main qualifying round.

And Gambia very nearly didn’t make it. A Mohammed Mbye own goal gave their opponents the lead in the first leg in the city of Djibouti, but Bubacarr Sanneh levelled things up with a goal in the 90th minute.

The second leg in The Gambia was just as tight, with Jallow levelling the scores in first-half injury time after a Mahdi Houssein Mahabeh penalty had given the East Africans the lead.

Gambia goalkeeper Modou “Toldo” Jobe was one of the heroes of the ensuing shootout, saving two Djibouti spot-kicks before Man of the Match Jallow sent his side through in dramatic fashion with the winning penalty.

“I still have mixed feelings,” said Gambia’s Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet at the time.

“It is good we have qualified and that was the target and the most important thing.

“We had lots of difficulties during our previous matches, we couldn’t play fancy football as we wanted.”

All this was merely to reach the qualifiers, during which Gambia competed in a closely fought group with Gabon, DR Congo, and Angola, eventually progressing along with Gabon after topping the group.

All the players mentioned above are part of Gambia’s squad in Cameroon, and Jallow’s goal against Tunisia last week gives him two in the tournament so far.

Only three players have played every minute for Saintfiet’s side so far. The coach has rotated his side, especially for that final game once qualification for the knockout stages was already secured.

The player picked out as Gambia’s one to watch prior to the tournament, Bologna’s Musa Barrow, is one of those ever-presents, along with defenders Omar Colley and relative newcomer James Gomez who is playing his first competitive games for his country.

Barrow scored Gambia’s other goal in the group stage in a 1-1 draw with Mali as they ended this phase unbeaten. The 23-year-old also assisted both Jallow’s strikes meaning he has been involved in all three of his side’s goals in Cameroon so far.

Though it’s not been the fancy football Saintfiet spoke about back in 2019, midfielder Sulayman Marreh, who plays his club football for Belgian side Gent, has been on hand to offer some semblance of control in midfield.

The 26-year-old could be key if Gambia are to have a chance against Guinea in the next round.

As detailed in the tournament preview two weeks ago, the Gambia aren’t the only nation competing in their first Afcon.

The other debutants, Comoros, also sealed their place in the last 16 following a monumental 3-2 victory against one of the continent’s heavyweights, Ghana.

It was as joyful for Comoros as it was disappointing for Ghana who finished bottom of their group with just a point to their name. 

The football-mad West African country failed to qualify while Gabon and Morocco advanced along with the island nation.

Comoros’ reward for progressing will be a last 16 tie against hosts Cameroon on Monday.

Defending champions Algeria joined Ghana as surprise departees after finishing bottom of Group E. Equatorial Guinea were able to take advantage and qualified along with Ivory Coast.

The knockout rounds begin on Sunday when Burkina Faso face Gabon in Limbe and one of the standout sides so far, Nigeria, meet Tunisia in Garoua.

Fans will be hoping the slightly more free-flowing football of the latter part of the group stages continues into the knockout rounds.

The tournament was criticised early on after a string of low-scoring games, but it was always likely to be that way given the way the group stages work.

The possibility of three teams qualifying from a group can place early focus on not losing before the games loosen up as some teams needed victories to qualify.

Even away from the detail of each game, this Afcon has already written some dramatic stories, not least the progress of Gambia and Comoros and the exits of Ghana and Algeria. This unpredictability could be set to continue into the knockout stages.