Togo Going Home

[Blueboylewis]

It wouldent be a wise choice but it must be there choice at the end of the day and i think that if Togo want to play and play in honour of there dead team members then let them! And good luck to them. I thought this deserved a new thread because it hasnt been mentioned yet and people can keep them all updated on how the situation is. And we can have a poll vote?

The Togo prime minister has demanded that the team return home for there own safety.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 450529.stm

[Beefymcfc]

They do say that the best way to get over it is to get on with it, and that's probably why they want to play. However, if they do stay they need professional care to get through the ordeal, otherwise they are going to probelms further on down the line. Sleepless nights, flashbacks, mood swings and times of depression will take over their lives if they are not careful.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Absolutely not.

And let's face it, they didn't stand a chance in the first place.

[Blueboylewis]

Absolutely not.

And let's face it, they didn't stand a chance in the first place.

Every team always has a chance before the game has started!

[simon12]

I`ve voted yes as terrorism should never win no matter their reason for carrying out the attack.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Absolutely not.

And let's face it, they didn't stand a chance in the first place.

Every team always has a chance before the game has started!

Yeah, but they'd have to win two out of three to qualify for next round.

[Beefymcfc]

The problem here is that other people are getting involved. It should be upto the people on the ground, not the government who are most probably trying to make a political statement, rather than a sporting one.

One thing has to be considered, these people are professional sportsmen, not soldiers of war. They would not expect this, be trained for this or able to cope personaally with the aftermath.

For those who say don't give in to terrorism, sometimes it is the best option. The England cricket team curtailed a tour only last year, Australia pulled out of a tour of Pakistan where they hadn't played for 10 years and even in football, United pulled out of a tour to Jakarta due to security issues last year. What has to be remembered is the level of threat compared to the security that can be guaranteed, and places like Angola cannot deliver the amounts needed against the threat that exists.

[Ted Hughes]

The problem here is that other people are getting involved. It should be upto the people on the ground, not the government who are most probably trying to make a political statement, rather than a sporting one.

One thing has to be considered, these people are professional sportsmen, not soldiers of war. They would not expect this, be trained for this or able to cope personaally with the aftermath.

For those who say don't give in to terrorism, sometimes it is the best option. The England cricket team curtailed a tour only last year, Australia pulled out of a tour of Pakistan where they hadn't played for 10 years and even in football, U***d pulled out of a tour to Jakarta due to security issues last year. What has to be remembered is the level of threat compared to the security that can be guaranteed, and places like Angola cannot deliver the amounts needed against the threat that exists.

Seeing as the same blokes are threatening to do it again, even though I'm all for standing up to terrorism, it seems on this occasion that it's a gamble with peoples lives if they carry on & is almost goading the terrorists to try it which would lead to security people being killed even if they don't get to the footballers.


Just been confirmed Togo are coming home.

[simon12]

The problem here is that other people are getting involved. It should be upto the people on the ground, not the government who are most probably trying to make a political statement, rather than a sporting one.

One thing has to be considered, these people are professional sportsmen, not soldiers of war. They would not expect this, be trained for this or able to cope personaally with the aftermath.

For those who say don't give in to terrorism, sometimes it is the best option. The England cricket team curtailed a tour only last year, Australia pulled out of a tour of Pakistan where they hadn't played for 10 years and even in football, U***d pulled out of a tour to Jakarta due to security issues last year. What has to be remembered is the level of threat compared to the security that can be guaranteed, and places like Angola cannot deliver the amounts needed against the threat that exists.

Angola wanted the competition and they got it. They know their security issues and should offer protection accordingly. What baffles me is that there are 7 games scheduled in Cabinda. How fucking stupid/naive can you be?

[ant london]

Confusion now appears to have been clarified

Togo shall NOT be remaining in Angola and will NOT participate in the tournament.

per SSN (more to follow)

Togo captain Emmanuel Adebayor has told French radio his team will head home from the African Cup of Nations.

A number of players, including the Manchester City striker, had been quoted in the French media saying they were keen to play on.

Togo's squad suggested they wanted to remain at the tournament as a mark of respect to those killed and injured in Friday's gun attack on their team bus in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda.

But Togolese prime minister Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo ordered the team must return on Sunday.

The players have now agreed and Togolese president Faure Gnassingbe has dispatched his presidential plane to collect them.


oh and

Angola wanted the competition and they got it. They know their security issues and should offer protection accordingly. What baffles me is that there are 7 games scheduled in Cabinda. How fucking stupid/naive can you be?

The ultimate source of the problem is also the source of Angola's new-found wealth: the vast oilfields under the Atlantic off the Cabinda coast.

Cabinda occupies just 3,000 square miles of the nearly 500,000 that make up Angola, yet it produces 60 per cent of Angola's oil, which is worth 80 per cent of Angola's economy.

Cabinda is an extraordinary concentration of wealth and, like the Niger delta to the north, it has attracted not just the global oil giants but also violence and corruption.

While the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (Flec), the group that claimed responsibility for the attack, claim they want an independence on ethnic grounds, they also want the oil money to be redistributed across the province.

Why, if a tenuous peace had only been agreed with rebel groups three years ago, did Angola and Caf take the risk of staging games in Cabinda?

The answer is money. Without Cabinda's oil money, there would be no tournament in Angola – the government claims to have spent $1 billion on getting the infrastructure up to scratch. So, it's important for Cabinda to be in on the action, to show that it is a safe place to invest. That is why they were fighting so hard yesterday to preserve the fixtures scheduled to take place there.

[Beefymcfc]

Good decision by all concerned. How could anyone play a normal game after what has happened, even the teams they played would then be subject to the problems Togo have had. It would become more a drama than sport and I can see people tuning in only to see some sort of atrocity.

For those running the sport, I just hope and pray that there are no further incidents of this nature, whether to the players or supporters, as they will have a lot to answer for!

[Blueboylewis]

good to hear and i wish them a safe journey home where they can chill out and try and forget about this horrific attack but not to forget there friends that they lost. And the driver!

[cdncityfan]

There is giving in to terrorism and there is the ridiculous decision to stage matches in Cabinda in the first place.
Why the Cup of Nations was awarded to Angola in the first place is an absolute mystery, itself a feel-good political decision without safety considerations being paramount. The real threat of terrorism in the Cabinda enclave was well known before the awarding of the venue and was even hinted at in the week or so before the attack by the group who had allegedly perpetrated the attack.
I would think common sense should demand, at bare minimum, that the matches scheduled to be held in Cabinda should be moved.

[OliverHardy]

fucking hell, just seen SSN and Ade breaking down crying twice, looks like its really hit him hard