Soccer-loving citizens of The Gambia were observing Monday (13Oct) as a public holiday, declared by President Yahya Jammeh to honour the national football team, after it played a 1-1 draw against Senegal at the weekend in the joint qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup/Africa Nations Cup. Later in the day, a ‘national party’, to which President Jammeh has invited all Gambians, will mark the peak of the celebrations. The national team received a warm welcome after returning from Senegal, where it succeeded in stopping the country from advancing to the finals of both the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the Nations Cup in Angola. Despite the massive celebration, however, Gambia narrowly failed to advance to the third and final round of the qualifiers. Gambia finished level on points (9) with Mozambique in Group 7, but the latter went through as one of best 8 runner-up due to a superior goal difference.
