The voice of reason?

Well, everyone else and their mother has weighed in on the timing of the Africa Cup of Nations so why not me? Actually, this post is mainly going to be about what Emmanuel Adebayor thinks about the subject but first my quick 2 cents.

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?