Stephen Keshi is once again the coach of the Togolese national team. He is actually Nigerian and was on the last Nigerian team to win the ACN back in 1994. It’s his prediction we’ll take a look at today. After all, you’d much rather read his then mine, right?

Keshi being Nigerian and a member of a team that previously won the tournament for his home country you would expect him to pick his beloved Super Eagles to win it all…right? Not so much.

In a telephone radio interview a few weeks ago from Togo, Keshi laid out how he thinks everything will go down in Ghana. You can read the full article here but I will break it down for you if you want to keep reading.

Who is it that gets Keshi’s vote? Like many other’s he predicts the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire to come out on top. He says the Elephants are “world-class” and currently “the best team on the continent”. But the article gets more interesting when he discusses the teams that he thinks will not be the strongest in Ghana.

First he takes a little poke at the host nation by claiming the Black Stars are an “ordinary” and “average” side. He goes on to say, “We played against them at the Four-Nation tournament in Accra and by my own assessment there was nothing special about the Black Stars. Although they won the trophy by beating the Squirrels of Benin Republic, I don’t think they have a team that can rule the continent.” It’s a good thing that Togo is not in this tournament because that kind of statement is what we refer to in North America as “bulletin board material” and extra motivation for the slighted team to make the person eat their words.

Next the Togo boss talked a little about his country of birth and their chances. Needless to say, he doesn’t have a lot of confidence in the current Nigerian national team. He went so far as to say that it would be the “the ninth wonder of the world” if the Super Eagles were able to come out on top in Ghana this year. Nice. The meat on the bones of that statement is that Keshi believes that Nigeria is made up of a bunch of individually talented players but not necessarily a team. “We have quality players, but we lack the kind of cohesiveness required to excel. Many of our players are doing very well in Europe for their clubs, but for us to win in Ghana we need a team, a group of players, who are united, disciplined and ready to give their best - and I don’t think we have that now.” Naturally the idea of comparing this edition of the Nigerian team with the last one to win the African championship in 1994 of which Keshi was a member was addressed. He summed it all up in this statement: “I’m sure Nigerians know that we cannot compare this team to our team that won the tournament in 1994. In terms of quality, discipline, commitment and hunger for glory, there is no basis for comparison.”

So, as you can see, what’s interesting about Stephen Keshi’s prediction is not who he thinks will win but who he is picking to lose. In a few weeks we’ll know just how much Keshi knows about the current state of the best teams Africa has to offer.

That being said, the Togo blog is now going to take a little hiatus as focus is solely on the Cup of Nations now and other opportunities have presented themselves to take up my time. More on that soon.

As a sidebar here’s an interesting video I stumbled on about Zambia in the aforementioned ‘94 Cup of Nations and their dramatic journey to the final where they eventually lost to Keshi’s Nigerian squad. And don’t be confused towards the end of the video when they show the highlights of the championship game, the team in green is actually Zambia and the team wearing the pajama’s is Nigeria. Gotta love the kits of the 90’s.

The first day of 2008 has arrived and what dominates my thinking is what is in store for Les Eperviers in the next year. So I thought I’d empty my brain of what I’m thinking, predicting and hoping for as Togo moves forward in the next few months. Many of these thoughts I’ll get into in depth in the future…consider this a bit of a trailer for the 2008 Togo blog.

- In just a little over 18 days the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations will kick off and despite Togo not making it this time around, the tournament will definitely have my full attention. It will be a chance to see the best of Africa perform and maybe get a glimpse of some of the African nations that could produce the next surprise World Cup qualifier…Mali anyone? Also a chance to take a look at the Zambian side that will be Togo’s first main obstacle in the attempt at back-to-back World Cup qualifications.

-Speaking of which, should we even be concerned about the possibility of flopping out of the qualifications for South Africa 2010 in the first group stage? I mean, if somehow Zambia finishes ahead of us, surely one of the 8 best second place finishes will be attainable. After all, Eritrea (currently ranked 132) and Swaziland (currently ranked 148) should be easily taken care of, right?

- How will the home match ban affect the team? It shouldn’t matter whether the games against Eritrea and Swaziland are in Togo or not, right?

- The constant turmoil surrounding the team, the coaching, and the Togolese Football Federation…will it ever stop? It can only get better after all the controversy surrounding the ‘06 World Cup.

-Adebayor just seems to be getting better and better, and he’s only 23! Where would the national team be without him? His emergence as one of the best strikers in the Premier league bodes well for Togo.

- What will the team look like when they kick off qualifying for S.A. 2010? Will it be made up of mostly the same personnel as we saw in Germany less than two years ago? Any new additions and up-and-comers to keep our eyes on?

- Will the team be well enough prepared? It seems like other countries play more international friendlies than Togo does. Can Togo expect to compete with the best in Africa when they don’t get enough real game action against nations ranked higher than themselves? I mean, does beating the United Arab Emirates 5-0 really mean much? And think back to 2006, a World Cup warm up game against Liechtenstein? How does that help us?

-Nigerian Stephen Keshi who led Togo’s impressive qualification run for Germany ‘06 is back as coach. Can he work the same miracle as he did 2 years ago?

I could go on but that’s enough for now. Despite the disappointing results in 2007, I am excited and optimistic for what is in store for Togolese football in 2008.

First of all, I understand the frustration of the club teams, mainly the English ones, with the scheduling conflict. They are essentially the employer and they are losing some of their valuable employees for a crucial stretch of time in the middle of the season. It’s the age old debate of club vs. country. The argument for club makes sense but my heart lies with that of the country. If the local stars aren’t allowed to play for their country then the continental championships will suffer and no where will this be felt greater then in Africa. Can you imagine an African championship without the likes of Drogba, Essien, Eto’o, Mido, Adebayor, Kanu, Eboue, Kanoute, Martins, etc. I know, the same would be felt for European or South American countries missing some of their stars but I just think Africa would be especially devastated because of the already difficult and challenging conditions across the continent. As Adebayor stated in a recent article, “The Cup of Nations brings us together as people and in our continent where a lot of people are deprived, football makes people happy and even forget their problems, that’s why I really wanted to be part of it.” Of course Togo unfortunately failed to qualify for this upcoming tournament but that’s neither here nor there for now. :)

Adebayor also talked about the potential health risks of moving the ACN to the summer months. “Only this year we have seen two African players die on the pitch so playing during the summer could be very dangerous for us,” Adebayor said. “We know of the deaths of Nsofwa and Atangana because they are big players but we don’t know how many young or unknown players have died in Africa this year. Those making these demands would have to think about this carefully; if a mistake is made we might have a disaster on our hands.”

The two players he was talking about were Zambian Chaswe Nsofwa who collapsed wile training in Israel and Cameroon U-23 star Clement Atangana who suffered the same fate in Vietnam.

Back to the disappointment of Togo not qualifying for the tournament, Adebayor stated, “I am very sad that we could not qualify as I very much wanted to be part of this big event for us Africans because it is not only a football tournament.” He went on to say, “Even as I will not be playing I will follow the tournament closely and use my time in here to help my club (Arsenal) win the title.”

So, do you agree with Adebayor? Is he the one with a voice of reason in this whole debate? Are these health risks something that those who want to move the tournament to the summer are failing to consider? Are they being selfish in only thinking about their own best interests for when the ACN should take place?

I also religiously checked this blog leading up to the 2006 World Cup and am excited to take over the writing duties. There will be a lot to write about and discuss over the next couple years and I look forward to all the ups and downs that come with an African country like Togo trying to qualify for the worlds biggest tournament.

I welcome any comments, suggestions, or questions and I look forward to some good discussion as Les Eperviers try to do the improbable and qualify for back to back World Cups.