It was all hope, excitement and partying at the beginning of the game with this being the first game at Kegue Stadium in Lome for quite some time due to the FIFA ban stemming from the violence that took place after a match with Mali in 2007. The fans were out in force to cheer on their national hero’s and were promptly rewarded in the 4th minute. Emmanuel Adebayor created the chance with some good work down the right hand side and his cross found Mohamed Kader (Togo’s only goal-scorer in Germany ‘06) who whiffed on an acrobatic attempt on net but the ball found it’s way to Aston Villa man Moustapha Salifou all alone on the left who easily slotted the ball in the net. Pandemonium in Lome. I couldn’t even believe what I just saw. Togo was off to an early lead in front of 25,000 jubilant supporters.

Just like they did against Cameroon back in March, after scoring the early goal Togo decided to throw almost all their players into their half to sit back and defend. Including Emmanuel Adebayor who was often found running around in his own end helping defend, something that I rarely saw him do in his days with Arsenal. The game then became a rough and tumble affair with the scrappy les Eperviers playing a physical, aggressive style and Morocco struggling to get into any kind of rhythm. Togo did have it’s chances to increase their lead though with Adebayor, Salifou, Kader and occasionally Thomas Dossevi forming a dangerous group up front. They pushed forward at times when they caught Morocco napping in the back but weren’t able to capitalize.

Keeping with the theme of a rough affair, starting keeper Dodo Obilale took a rough tumble while making a save and was forced to be carted off the field and replaced. In came Kossi Agassa, the same man who led Togo to the World Cup in Germany. I was confident knowing we had a keeper like Agassa as the replacement. I always felt he was a competent goalie and could still be the number one. Interesting trivia on the side- which keeper led all keepers in saves in the group stage in Germany ‘06? That’s right, none other than Kossi Agassa. Crazy eh? Not sure if that speaks more to his skill or Togo’s sub-par defending, but still interesting nonetheless.

After entering the game in the 58th minute, Agassa was not really forced to make any difficult saves and things seemed to be progressing comfortably towards a crucial 1-0 home victory, all but eliminating Morocco from contention for the one spot to South Africa. Then the 93rd minute happened. Just when the Togo defenders thought they had done enough to preserve the 3 points they were undone with a lovely bit of football from Moroccan substitute Adel Taraabt. Shock and horror. Just like I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when Salifou scored in the 4th minute, I now could not believe what I was seeing as Morocco had scored the equalizer on what was most likely to be the final rush of the game.

Togo is not of course eliminated with that draw but their hopes did take a serious blow. Now the best we can hope for is Gabon and Cameroon to play to a draw on Wednesday which would leave Togo tied for second place with Cameroon, 2 points behind Gabon with 2 matches to play. Not a great chance at qualification but a chance all the same. Les Eperviers will travel to Cameroon in October and then host Gabon in November. Realistically, nothing short of 2 victories will get Togo to South Africa.

More thoughts and a clearer picture will be coming after Wednesday’s Cameroon-Gabon encounter. Here for your viewing pleasure is the goal that broke Togolese hearts in Lome:

On Sunday in the capital city of Lome, there should be a party like atmosphere. After all, les Eperviers haven’t had a true home match in quite some time do to a ban by FIFA due to violence after a match against Mali back in 2007. I’m expecting the supporters to welcome their team back with enthusiasm hopefully providing a real home-field advantage. Togo will also be quite happy to welcome back their talismanic leader, Emmanuel Adebayor. The star forward missed the last match in Morocco due to yellow cards. Ade has gotten off to a great start with his new team Man City, scoring 3 goals in 3 games, all of those being game-winning goals. An in-form Adebayor is exactly what this Togo squad needs to keep their hopes of a second straight World Cup qualification alive.

The other thing that Togo (and Morocco for that matter) need is for group leaders Gabon to slip up. Gabon is on top of the group and still with a game in hand. A Togo victory won’t accomplish much if Gabon defeats Cameroon on Saturday. In a perfect world Gabon will finally falter and lose on Saturday and then on Sunday Togo will defend their home turf and send Morocco to a defeat that will all but end The Atlas Lions World Cup hopes. That would send Togo to the top of the group pending Gabon’s make-up game which will take place on Sep. 9 in Cameroon.

As far as team news goes, the biggest change will of course be having Adebayor back in the line-up. We also might see some new faces in Boussari Akimsola, who actually plays in Morocco, and Serge Gakpe, who is a former French junior international who is benefitting from a change in the FIFA nationality statutes. It will also be interesting to see who ends up between the pipes, long-time number one Kossi Agassa who led Togo to the World Cup in Germany or up and coming Kodjovi Obilale who has started 2 of the 3 games in this round of qualification. I’m going to guess Obilale, who has after all been in goal for the draw in Morocco and victory against Cameroon in Accra.

Prediction time
All things seem to be pointing to a positive result for Togo, which naturally of course makes me hesitant. However, I remember so well the feelings and emotions that I had during Togo’s qualification run to Germany and it seems like all that magic could be right on the doorstep again. That coupled with the struggles of Morocco in recent times is motivating me to pick Togo. I’ll go with 2-1 for les Eperviers with goals coming from Adebayor and Olufade. Here’s hoping anyways…

Here are the squad lists:
TOGO
Kossi Agassa (Istres), Dodo Obilale (Pontivy), Cedric Mensah (Free), Atsu Mawugbe (Maranatha), Mamah Gaffar (FC Sheriff), Assimiou Toure (Leverkusen), Serge Akakpo (Vaslui), Nibombe Dare (FC Timisoara), Boussari Akimsola (DH Jadida), Tamani Manima (Gomido), Mango Senah (Marseille), Euloge Ahodikpe (FC Lombard), Floyd Ayite (AS Nancy), Alaixys Romao (Grenoble), Senaya Junior (Dubai SC), Moustapha Salifou (Aston Villa), Hamilton (Sport Recife), Mani Sapol (Al Ittihad), Wome Dove (Maranatha),Razak Boukari (Lens), Thomas Dossevi (Nantes), Emmanuel Adebayor (Manchester City), Adekamni Olufade (Racing Gent), Kader Coubadja (Al Dharfa), Serge Gakpe (AS Monaco), Jonathan Ayite (Nimes), Kpatoubi Liyabi (ASKO de Kara)

MOROCCO
Karim Fegrouch (Wydad Casablanca), Nadir Lamyaghri (Wydad Casablanca), Khalid Askri (FAR Rabat), Jamal Alioui (FC Sion), Aissam El Adoua (Lens), Mehdi Amine El Moutaoui (Clerment Foot), Amine Erbati (Al Wahda), Hicham Mahdoufi (Olympique Khouribga), Abdessalam Ouaddou (Nancy), Mohamed Oulhaj (Raja Casablanca), Mbark Boussoufa (RC Anderlecht), Rachid Hamdani (Clermont Foot), Youssef Safri (Qatari), Adil Taarabt (QPR), Issam Raki (FAR), Mohammed Berrabeh (Wydad Casablanca) Jaouad Zairi (Olympiakos), Merouane Zemmama (Hibernian), Mustapha Allaoui (Guingamp), Abdessalam Benjelloun (Hibernian), Marouane Chamakh (Bordeaux), Mounir El Hamdaoui (AZ Alkmaar), Youssef Hadji (Nancy)

It would be fun to do a live-blog of this game but unfortunately I will be at work and will have to tune on to the video on demand from myafricanfootball.com after work. Who knows, if I’m feeling up to it I might do a not-exactly-live blog of the game as I’m watching it.

It will also be interesting to see which Emmanuel Adebayor shows up. Will we have a focused, determined, and dominant striker that would give Gabon fits in the box or will we see a distracted, aloof, and controversial Manny who is more concerned with a possible move to Italy in the near future. Either way, Togo’s success against Gabon (or lack-thereof) will be largely tied to Adebayor.

As far as Gabon goes, I have no idea what to expect. They’ve been surprising people for months now and after a shock 2-1 win over Morocco back in March, they have to be taken seriously. And, believe it or not, Togo has yet to beat Gabon in a senior men’s match, chalking up 2 draws and 4 losses in 6 previous encounters. If Les Eperviers can scratch out at least one point on the road in Libreville, they will be in decent shape heading into the June 20 match against Morocco.

If I can find any team news as far as call-ups and squad lists I’ll be sure to post them.

Due to the wonders of technology I was even fortunate enough to be able to watch the entire game live on Saturday morning. If you are wondering how to watch the African qualifiers and don’t mind shelling out a few bucks, check out myafricanfootball.com. It was pretty good quality and how else would I have been able to watch a Togo soccer match over here in Canada? Feel free to share any other ideas you have for watching these games.

But, back to the game. Leading up to the game I was quite comfortable with the underdog role but once I heard that Adebayor had made the trip from the Arsenal injury list to Accra, Ghana for the game, my confidence immediately doubled. For Togo to have any shot at consecutive World Cup qualifications, Emmanuel has to do what he did in 2006, and that is carry the team on his back. Also coming back from injury to make an appearance was Cameroon star Samuel Eto’o, although he didn’t have too much of an impact. Here are the complete starting lineups the teams fielded on Saturday:
TOGO
* 16 Kodjovi OBILALE (GK)
* 2 Dare NIBOMBE
* 4 Emmanuel ADEBAYOR
* 5 Richmond FORSON
* 6 Abdul MAMAH
* 7 Moustapha SALIFOU
* 8 Komlan AMEWOU
* 9 Thomas DOSSEVI
* 10 Cherif Toure MAMAM
* 12 Serge AKAKPO
* 15 Alaixys ROMAO

CAMEROON
* (GK) Idriss KAMENI 1
* Benoit ASSOU-EKOTTO 3
* Rigobert SONG 4
* Andre BIKEY 5
* Modeste MBAMI 7
* GEREMI 8
* Samuel ETOO 9
* Jean MAKOUN 11
* Daniel KOME 12
* Atchoyi SOMEN 13
* Achille WEBO 15

Cameroon’s worst fears were realized in the 11th minute when Adebayor fought off Andre Bikey and put the ball in the back of the net. Togo, under the direction of coach Jean Thissen, had had a strong start and were rewarded. Admittedly, Cameroon enjoyed an edge in possession for the remainder of the game and created the bulk of the scoring chances but Togo’s defence held strong and keeper Kodjovi Obilale made a few nice saves. Adebayor wasted a chance for a second goal and some insurance when he missed a spot kick in the late stages after being taken down in the box.

All in all, Togo played a smart game against a stronger opponent. They started well, got the goal, and then protected the lead. Seen as this was their “home” game against Cameroon (being that they are still banned from having home games in Togo due to previous riots) it was crucial to come away with something and a win is better than what I expected. Up next is Gabon in Libreville on June 6. A win there and Togo will be all alone atop group A, thanks to Gabon’s stunning 2-1 victory over Morocco in Casablanca.

But that wasn’t the only surprise during the first weekend of qualifiers on the African continent. Elsewhere, Mozambique drew with Nigeria, Zambia held Egypt to a 1-1 draw, and Sudan tied Mali with the same scoreline. I hesitate to call Burkina Faso’s 4-2 win over Guinea an upset because these Stallions are on quite a roll, seen as they haven’t lost in the 7 qualification games they have played this time around. They have a tough task in front of them though having to get by the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire who dismantled Malawi 5-0 in their first game.

June will be a crucial month with all teams playing 2 games. Stay tuned, things will get interesting.

It should be interesting to see what kind of lineup takes the field for Les Eperviers. One person we know won’t be featured is Emmanuel Adebayor. The Togolese striker picked up a hamstring injury in Sunday’s North London Derby and will miss the next 3 weeks at least. Luckily we are still a month and a half away from Togo’s opening fixture of Round 3 of qualification against Cameroon, so hopefully Ade will be fit by then as we all know Togo’s dreams of back-to-back World Cup qualification rests squarely on his shoulders.

It’s almost impossible to follow Togo’s friendlies so if you’re in Paris, please stop by the game on Wednesday and let me know what you see.

First, Togo has been able to nail down a November friendly with another African nation gearing up for the next round of World Cup Qualifiers. Rwanda, who was planning to take on Malawi in a friendly has decided instead to head to Lome on the 19th of this month to face Les Eperviers. Not sure exactly what prompted the change but apparently part of the deal is that Togo will foot the bill for the Rwandan’s troubles so the almighty dollar may have been a key factor. The FTF must be using the remainder of the cash they were supposed to giving to their players to help fund this friendly…..

In other news, Emmanuel Adebayor and the FTF seem to be getting along, is that even possible? In an article on Goal.com, Adebayor while talking about his hopes of claiming the honor of being Africa’s top footballer, made mention of the fact that his spat with the federation seems to be resolved, at least for the time being. He said, “It is fine now. Everything is going better. We had a lot of problems. But I think there is an understanding now.” Whatever that means I have no idea but it sounds good anyways. :)

My initial reaction was that it could have been better but also could have been worse. Cameroon is talented but certainly beatable, Gabon, although they looked impressive in the most recent round of qualifying, should still be looking up to Togo, and Morocco is perhaps the team I fear most with Roger Lemerre at the helm and coming off of a disappointing Africa Cup of Nations, they will be looking to get back into form. It’s reasonable to say that qualifying out of this group won’t be much more difficult than it was in 2006 when Les Eperviers had to get by Congo, Zambia, Mali, and Senegal, but this still is a daunting task. Getting by two top African sides that will be looking for redemption after barely missing out on the World Cup in Germany is a tall order. But with a healthy (and hopefully committed) Emmanuel Adebayor, and growing supporting cast, a repeat World Cup qualification is not out of the question.

Stay tuned for further group analysis and I might even take a stab at breaking down the other 4 groups as well. All I know is March is way too far away.

Bonus trivia: Of the three teams Togo will be up against in Group A, which one has Togo never defeated? If you guessed Gabon, then pat yourself on the back. As far as I can tell, Togo has never defeated the Azingo Nationale, so here’s hoping that changes come 2009.

Let’s take a look at the pots for the draw:

Pot 1 (top seeds)
Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire

Pot 2
Guinea, Morocco, Tunisia, Mali, Algeria

Pot 3
Burkina Faso, Gabon, Zambia, Kenya, Benin

Pot 4
Rwanda, Togo, Mozambique, Sudan, Malawi

Pretty straight forward draw, the teams in Pot 1 will be separated into the 5 groups, then the teams from Pot 2 will be picked and one each added to the 5 groups and so on and so forth. There is a staggering amount of possible group combination’s (anyone want to do that math??) so I’m just going to look at a few different scenarios.

First, naturally, let’s take a look at some possibilities for my beloved Sparrowhawks. I’m going to start by saying there really is not going to be any easy group out of the 5, especially knowing that you have to win the group to advance. That being said, here’s the ideal situation I would like to see unfold for Togo.

Out of Pot 1 I’ll be hoping to be grouped with Ghana. It pains me to say that because of my West African bias but for Togo to move on they are most likely going to have to go through West Africa and I get the feeling Ghana is the most vulnerable with the uncertain status of Michael Essien and Stephen Appiah going forward as well as The Black Stars chronic lack of finishing up front. I would also be OK being in a group with Cote d’Ivoire. Egypt I think will end their World Cup drought this time around and Nigeria and Cameroon have looked awfully good so far in qualifying so those 3 are to be avoided.

In pot 2 my preference would be Algeria. Admittedly I don’t know much about them so it’s more of my awareness of the other 4 options that leads me to preferring the Algerians. Mali I think will be a surprise qualifier this time around, Morocco and Tunisia are always tough and Guinea has a dangerous side with the likes of the Bangoura’s and Pascal Feindouno. That being said, Guinea would be my second choice out of that Pot.

On to Pot 3. It was a toss up for me between Kenya and Gabon. I’d be ok with either one honestly. This pot seems to have the most wild cards in it. What’s the deal with Burkina Faso? Where did they come from and are they for real? Benin also seems to be getting their act together at the right time (not to mention the removal of their meek and non-intimidating moniker) and Zambia will be a tough draw for anyone, as Togo found out in the first round of African Qualifying. I’m going to go with Kenya though out of this pot as I think they may be the easiest draw.

So, let’s recap. The ideal group for Togo I feel would be comprised of Ghana, Algeria, and Kenya. Very winnable in my estimation. And on the flipside, the worst case scenario for Togo would be to be joined by Egypt, Mali, and Zambia.

As far as a possible Group of Death, I can’t imagine that kind of a group not having Togo in it because I feel Togo is the best team in Pot 4, although my friend over at the Malawi blog may have something to say about that. :) So, a couple of combination’s that I would classify as Group’s of Death would be:

Egypt, Mali, Zambia, and Togo (which I mentioned above)
Nigeria, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Togo
Cameroon, Tunisia, Benin, Togo

Just my thoughts. No matter how it turns out it will be interesting to observe. Allez les Eperviers!

When all was said and done, Les Eperviers had bagged 6 goals against an overwhelmed Swaziland side and cruised into the next round of qualification for South Africa 2010. Togo dominated from the outset with midfielder Moustapha Salifou scoring on a laser from 30 meters out in the 16th minute and before halftime had also received goals from Adebayor and fellow striker Adekanmi Olufade. Adebayor added goals in the 47th, 72nd, and 85th minutes respectively to round out the scoring.

There was a lot to be encouraged about from this result besides the obvious fact that Togo’s World Cup hopes are still alive. Not only did Adebayor show up (which is a huge victory in itself) but he took control of the game and did what a captain should. But also encouraging is the secondary scoring received from promising midfielder Salifou and striker Olufade. Having these players in form will go a long way in Togo’s success as it will take some of the opposing teams attention and focus away from the star of Togo football. Also, Kossi Agassa, starting keeper from Germany 2006, made his return after being sidelined from the previous game against Zambia by injury. Another item of note is Togo’s part-time captain, Dare Nibombe, was again the rock in the middle of the Togolese defense, coming off a recent announcement of a move to Romanian first division club CS Otopeni.

Now we wait for October 22, when the remaining 20 African countries will be split up into 5 groups of 4 to determine which 5 will join hosts South Africa in the 2010 World Cup. Togo is in pot 4 which will mean they will have some tough opposition to get past to make the dream of back-to-back World Cup appearances a reality.