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Indomitable Lions look to feed off crisis-ridden Togo (25.01.2006)
Cairo – CAMEROON superstar Samuel Eto’o will be licking his lips in anticipation of meeting a Togo side whose euphoria at reaching the World Cup soccer finals has descended into despair after their opening 2-0 defeat by the Democratic Republic of Congo in the African Nations Cup.
The two clash here today in group B with the Indomitable Lions needing a win to all but confirm their place in the quarter-finals, while the Togolese will seek to keep their hopes alive.
There could scarcely have been a starker contrast than that of Eto’o and his Togolese counterpart Emmanuel Adebayor in the first matches in the group.
While 24-year-old Eto’o scored a sublime hat-trick, taking his total to 21 goals in 48 internationals, in the 3-1 defeat of another of the World Cup qualifiers Angola, Adebayor sat on the bench, having refused to play, and made a dispirited entrance in the second half.
A subsequent public row with Togo coach Stephen Keshi threatened to see the 21-year-old walk out but there are signs that a fragile peace has been restored and Adebayor, whose 11 goals made him the leading scorer in the qualifying rounds, will play some part.
That also depends on whether a sore thigh he claimed to be suffering from gets better.
Cameroon’s veteran defender and captain Rigobert Song said that while he admired Togo’s achievement in reaching the World Cup finals there would be no quarter given once the whistle goes.
“We support them as Africans of course for the World Cup, but not in our match,” said the 29-year-old, who won his 100th cap against Angola.
“Once the match is over we will pay them our respects and of course in June (when the World Cup starts in Germany) we will be
right behind them.
“However we are here to make up for the failure to qualify for the World Cup finals ourselves and thus we are out to beat Togo,” added Song, a veteran of three World Cup finals.
Eto’o too makes no bones about his wanting to make amends for their failure to qualify, which hinged on an injury time penalty miss by Pierre Wome in their final match against Egypt and saw Ivory Coast progress instead.
”We owe it to ourselves and to the Cameroon people. We are here to be masters of African football again,” said Eto’o, who has won the African Nations Cup twice in 2000 and 2002.
Togo will do well to raise their game after such a traumatic and open bloodletting between the two main architects of their astonishing achievement in qualifying for the June extravaganza.
Keshi accused Adebayor of being a cry baby, the latter alleged that the Nigerian-born coach had tried to manipulate his transfer to England, and skipper Jean-Paul Abalo said the Arsenal striker had betrayed the Togolese people.
However, while the saying goes that nobody is indispensable, the lanky Adebayor is one of their few class players and without him goals will be hard to come by.
Perhaps the former Monaco striker, whose ?10-million transfer to Arsenal came on the back of just one goal in 13 league appearances this season, would best be served by the comparison Keshi made on Sunday.
“If he really is a star then he should behave like one,” Keshi said. “He should behave like (Didier) Drogba with the Ivory Coast and (Samuel) Eto’o with Cameroon.”
Adebayor should get first hand experience of that today and hopefully, for Togo, he will step up to the plate. – Sapa-AFP
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