Ruling on Togo’s appeal due next week
• Togo appealing two-tournament ban from Africa Cup of Nations
• Provisional measures to be announced before 2012 draw
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has said it will make a provisional ruling on Togo’s appeal against their ban from the next two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations before Saturday’s draw for the qualifying rounds of the 2012 tournament.
“The CAS will render an order on request for provisional measures before the draw of 20 February 2010,” Reuters reported the Swiss-based body as saying.
The Confederation of African Football banned Togo from the continent’s next two tournaments after the team was withdrawn from this year’s competition in Angola following the death of three members of the party in a gun attack on the team’s coach.
CAF officially disqualified Togo and fined them $50,000. The 2012 Nations Cup will be hosted jointly by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
Togo launch appeal against ACN ban
• Appeal made to court of arbitration for sport
• Ban followed withdrawal from this year’s event
A committee representing the Togo Football Federation has lodged an appeal with the court of arbitration for sport against the banning of its football team from the Africa Cup of Nations.
Togo’s Interim Caretaker Committee, a temporary body set up by world football’s governing body Fifa to run the Togo Football Federation, made its appeal to the Lausanne-based court today.
Togo was suspended from the next two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments by the African Football Confederation (CAF) after the country pulled out of last month’s event in Angola following a fatal attack on their team bus.
Two members of the Togo party and a driver were killed when the bus was fired on in the northern Angolan province of Cabinda. CAF claimed the Togo team’s subsequent withdrawal was because of interference from its government, which contravened CAF and African Cup of Nations regulations. The Togo Football Federation was also fined $50,000 (£32,000).
The committee chairman, General Seyi Memene – also the vice-president of CAF – said he was optimistic that Togo’s appeal would be given a fair and positive hearing. “I wish and pray to God for the CAF sanctions to be lifted against Togo,” he said.
Villa’s Salifou haunted by Togo bus attack
• ‘I thought everyone was going to die’ midfielder says
• ‘I am finding it difficult to sleep at night’ he admits
Moustapha Salifou has said that he remains deeply traumatised by the terrorist attack on the Togo team bus last month and is still suffering from nightmares about the incident that left three people dead. The Aston Villa midfielder, who was speaking publicly for the first time about the moment gunmen opened fire on the Togo players, revealed he has been waking up in the middle of the night “dreaming that somebody has been shooting me”.
The 26-year-old’s memory of the events that unfolded as the Togo bus crossed the border into Angola on their way to the team hotel, two days before their opening match in the Africa Cup of Nations, remains vivid, and he admitted he did not expect to survive when machine-gun fire broke out and the players leapt to the floor. The bus driver, a member of the press team and the assistant coach died in the attack.
“We didn’t see anybody, we just heard the shooting,” Salifou recalled. “There was a gunfight outside the bus for 20 minutes. The attackers shot the driver and after two or three minutes all the players had to lie on the floor and everyone was just crying. We had to wait for 30 minutes. I did not feel I would make it off that bus alive. We had to lie on the floor and the gunshots passed over our heads. To be honest, I was thinking everyone was going to die in the coach. But God saved us.
“When it was all over everyone was crying. We had to crawl out of the bus and I looked down and there was blood on the floor. We were all taken to hospital. My friend was shot. He said to me: ‘If I die now, who is going to look after my kids?’ Everybody started to cry again.”
Salifou believes, however, that there could have been far more casualties had the bus carrying the players’ kit not overtaken the one on which the squad were travelling as they entered the Angolan exclave of Cabinda. “When we crossed the border into Angola we swapped places as we drove into the forest,” he explained. “If that had not happened there would have been more deaths. The rebels attacked the wrong coach first.
“The terrorists were in front of us and shooting. Our security men shot back and told us to get down. My friend was shot because he was not sitting down when it started. He was dancing and one of the other guys was taking photos. The security men told us to stop screaming. If we made a noise the terrorists would know we were still alive. So we lay there in the quiet and we prayed.”
Although Salifou was one of the fortunate ones and escaped injury in the attack, he has suffered psychological damage and admitted that he is unable to erase the terrifying image of when the bus was ambushed. “I am finding it difficult to sleep at night. I am waking up at about three or four in the morning. I’ve been dreaming that somebody has been shooting at me.”
The Confederation of African Football has since banned Togo from the next two tournaments following their decision to withdraw from the event in Angola, although Salifou believes that the punishment is unfair. “They treat us like they have because we are a small country. If it had been Cameroon or the Ivory Coast, nobody is going to say they are banned from two African Nations Cups. I believe that we are appealing the decision, though.”
Salifou has been a peripheral figure since arriving at Villa Park from the Swiss club Wil in a deal believed to be worth around £1m in August 2007. He has made only 13 appearances for the club and has not featured at all this season. Yet while he accepts it will be difficult to break into the first team between now and the end of the campaign, he claimed that the events in Angola last month have increased his desire to get back playing.
“I feel so much for the people who have died and been injured,” he said. “I have to move on from this but it is not easy. I have been training and I watched the Carling Cup semi-final against Blackburn and the Arsenal game last week. Everyone has supported me and I would like to thank them. This makes me even more determined to start playing football again.”
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Ghana 0-1 Egypt
• Ghana 0-1 Egypt
• Mohamed Gedo scores winner in 85th minute
By the end it all felt very familiar. There again was the goalkeeper, Essam El Hadary, bouncing up and down on the crossbar. There again was the coach, Hassan Shehata, being thrown in the air by his players like a birthday boy being given the bumps. And there, yet again, was Ahmed Hassan, receiving the cup from Issa Hayatou, raising it and pointing his finger in the air in thanks to Allah. As it was in Cairo, as it was in Accra, so it was again in Luanda.
By winning an unprecedented third consecutive Cup of Nations, this Egypt side have confirmed their place in history. They will not be at this summer’s World Cup finals in South Africa but this may be the best team Africa has produced. Records were broken or extended wherever you looked.
This is Egypt’s seventh title, three more than their nearest challengers, Cameroon and Ghana, who must now live in the knowledge that they have only won as many as Hassan, Egypt’s remarkable captain. Five other players – This is Egypt’s seventh title, three more than their nearest challengers, Cameroon and Ghana, who must now live in the knowledge that they have won only as many as Hassan, Egypt’s remarkable captain. Five other players – El Hadary, Hany Said, Wael Gomaa, Ahmed Fathy and Emad Meteeb – played in all three finals, while Shehata who, after 18 games, is still unbeaten in the competition, equalled the Ghanaian CK Gyamfi’s record of three titles as coach.
As in those previous two finals Egypt were not especially convincing. They were the best team in the tournament and deserved their success but they were perhaps fortunate that a youthful Ghana could not find penetration to match their passing. Asamoah Gyan, a figure reborn in this competition, toiled heroically alone up front but their coach, Milovan Rajevac, will know he was left too isolated. Only with a couple of free-kicks, one just too high and one flapped uneasily wide by El Hadary, did they go close.
The game, in the end, was decided by the prolific substitute Mohamed Gedo, who took his tally for the tournament to five and confirmed himself as top scorer, as he played a one-two with Mohamed Zidan, advanced into the box and curled a precise finish beyond Richard Kingson. There were Ghanaian tears at the end, but Rajevac’s side are too gifted, too matureThere were Ghanaian tears at the end, but Rajevac’s side are too gifted, too mature to fade away, and will surely be back. This Egypt, though, perhaps will not. This has been one of the greatest of all generations, but, as their general manager Samir Adly acknowledged, the sense is that the sun may be setting on their golden age.Ghana (4-2-3-1) Kingson; Inkoom, Addy, Vorsah, Sarpei; Agyemang-Badu; Annan; D Ayew, Asamoah; Opoku (Addo 89); Gyan (Adiyiah 87).
Egypt (3-5-2) El Hadary; Fathy (Moatasem 90), H Said, Gomaa; El Mohamady, A Hassan, Ghaly, Hosny, Moawad (Abdelshafi 57); Zidan, Meteeb (Nagui 70).
Referee Koman Coulibaly (Mali)
Africa Cup of Nations final: Egypt v Ghana – live! | Evan Fanning
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18 min: Gomaa makes a mess of heading Inkoom’s cross. The ball falls to Ayew but his shot from outside the box is wayward and drifts behind
16 min: Great challenge by Said on Annan who was trying to get into the box. That was an important tackle. At the other end Ahmed Hassan shoots from distance but it sails over the bar
13 min: Ayew is fouled by Moawad on the right,. the referee gicves the free but should have played advantage. Asamoah swung in the free kick which wasn’t dealt with all that comfortably and goes for a corner. This time Al Hadari does better and comes through a group of player and punches clear. I’m not sure if I could have done that.
11 min: Egypt have settles a bit now and are knocking a few passes around. Ghana’s Lee Addy then does a Peter Kay-style ‘have it’ clearance which sails out of play. That was impressive
8 min: More terrible goalkeeping from Al Hadari, who comes for the corner but gets nowhere near it. Gyan tries an overhead kick which goes over the bar. I think I could be a goalkeeper in this tournament
7 min: A free kick to Ghana in a dangerous position after Asamoah is brought down. Gyan shoots from 30-yards but it hits the wall and goes for a corner
5 min: Ghana work it nicely down the right hand side but Inkoom’s cross is cleared by Gomaa. Egypt have switched from a back three to a flat back four and so far they haven’t looked very comfortable.
3 min: The Ghana goalkeeper, Wigan’s Richard Kingson, isn’t taking his goal kicks because of a tight groin. That never really works. it’s like havin a runner in cricket. On the pitch, Ghana have started much brighter
1 min: A good start from Ghana, who are all in white, with Inkoom crossing from the right and then launching a long throw which the Egypt defence deal with fairly comfortably.
1 min: The referee from Mali blows his whistle and we’re underway
We’re about to get underway. Egypt’s star man Mohamed Zidane has a heart and a football shaved into his head with an equals sign in between. We can only assumed he is telling us that he loves football, which is good.
Prediction time … I’m going to go for Egypt 2-1 Ghana, possibly after extra-time
The teams are on the pitch. There are plenty of empty seats in the 11 November Stadium in Luanda. Still, the people who are there have heavily daubed themselves with face paint, so that’s the main thing. Here comes Sepp Blatter. I bet the players are glad they’ve reached the final now.
“It’s Asamoah Gyan. He’s Egypt’s danger man,” the Eurosport commentator says in a rhyme that might well be the highlight of their coverage today. He follows that up by saying that the game is tomorrow, when in fact it starts in 12 minutes. Still, not only was it was a good rhyme but it’s accurate too. Gyan is their danger man. It may even be a Haiku
The teams are in …
Ghana: Kingson; Addy, Inkoom, Sarpei, Vorsah; Agyemang-Badu, Ayew, Agyemang, Asamoah, Annan; Gyan.
Egypt: Al Hadari; Al Muhammadi, Said, Gomaa, Moawad; Fathi, Abd Rabou, Hassan, Ghali; Zidan, Motaeb.
Referee: Koman Coulibaly (Mali)
Preamble Who needs Arsenal and Manchester United when you’ve got the final of the Africa Cup of Nations? The tournament began with the tragic shooting of the Togo team bus which left two people dead and has now, for some reason, led to Togo being kicked out of the next two editions of the tournament. The footballing side of things got under way with possibly the most amazing comeback ever seen in a football match, and is ending with a final containing the two most successful teams in the tournament’s history. Along the way there have been accusations of match-fixing and some of the worst goalkeeping ever seen in football. Amazingly these two things aren’t connected. Egypt were 10-1 or higher in some places before the tournament began, an amazing price when you consider they are going for their third consecutive title today, while Ghana are looking for their first win since 1982. All their victories in this year’s tournament have been 1-0 so anything could happen today.
Adebayor hits out at ‘outrageous’ ACN ban
• Manchester City striker calls for Caf president’s resignation
• Togo coach Hubert Velud questions Fifa stance on decision
Emmanuel Adebayor has labelled the decision to ban Togo from the next two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations as “outrageous”.
The west African side were yesterday banned from the next two tournaments and hit with a fine following their withdrawal from this year’s competition in the wake of a terrorist attack on their team bus. The decision was made by the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football and was greeted with disgust by the Togo captain, Adebayor.
The Manchester City striker claimed Caf’s Cameroonian president, Issa Hayatou, had “completely betrayed” the Togo squad and called for him to leave his post. “Mr Hayatou has served Africa extensively, but now he must escape,” Adebayor told L’Equipe. “This decision is outrageous.”
Three people were killed in the 8 January attack, which occurred in the Cabinda region of Angola while Togo were en route to the team hotel two days before their opening match. There followed a period of confusion as to whether the players wanted to play on, but they were ultimately called home by their government having decided themselves they wished to stay.
Caf deemed that move amounted to political interference, leading to yesterday’s sanction.
“They do not care about the voice of the world,” said Adebayor. “It was our head of state [Faure Gnassingbé] who sent us to the Africa Cup of Nations to defend the colours of our country. He said the threat surrounding our squad had not gone and told us to return to our country. We are only ambassadors. We were obliged to return, and there was nothing we could do.”
Togo’s French coach, Hubert Velud, was also astonished by the decision and wants to know whether it is one supported by the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, and the head of Uefa, Michel Platini.
“I am curious to know if Blatter and Platini will endorse this decision,” he said. “If they let this go, it is the gateway to completely dysfunctional football. I officially launched an appeal to international bodies to see their reaction.”
The striker Jonathan Ayité also criticised Caf for the decision. Ayité, who plays for the French side Nimes, was on the bus at the time and has described the suspension as a “scam”.
“It’s a big disappointment,” he told French Radio RMC. “It is unacceptable to do that. I will not use the words you need. But to be scammed like this by CAF … Frankly, there is no compassion on their part. I can not find the words. I do not understand.”
Ayité was left even more furious after claiming that the organisers had assured Togo’s players there would be no harsh consequences if they did decide to withdraw.
“Before leaving, the officers told us they would not apply the rules to the letter, they would be lenient,” he said. “And now, once everyone has returned to his club, they [change their minds]. This is unheard of. I do not know what went into their heads. There are some shenanigans in the air.”
The Togo government has already threatened legal action, while an appeal from the Togolese Football Federation is reportedly set to follow.
Gyan’s renaissance lifts Ghana’s hopes
Asamoah Gyan became a pariah after his poor displays in this tournament two years ago; now his sharp attacking play is key to Ghana’s chances of toppling Egypt
At the Cup of Nations two years ago, as Junior Agogo enjoyed unlikely double acclaim as sex symbol and international striker, Asamoah Gyan endured the darker side of the Ghanaian public’s mood. Derided after a series of missed chances, he walked out on the squad, vowing he could never play for his country again, and was only persuaded back by sympathetic team-mates. Seeing how demoralised he was, how his confidence had sunk to the level that the abuse had become self-fulfilling, it seemed possible that he would struggle to play any kind of football again.
His redemption since has been remarkable, speaking of great mental fortitude, and this afternoon he represents the main threat to Egypt’s hopes of lifting a third successive Africa Cup of Nations title. Gyan has blossomed since a move from Udinese to Rennes and has been central to the progress of Milovan Rajevac’s side. He has scored two of their four goals but, more than that, he has proved himself the model of the modern leader of a line.
“I always thought Ghana would do well if he played well,” said Abedi Pele, arguably Ghana’s greatest ever player. “He is very good and you can play him alone up front. He’s composed and fast, good at dribbles, good in the air. He has all that. But in the 2008 Cup of Nations, he was unlucky, and he missed all the chances that he had, and so he couldn’t play. The fans got on his back and then he was injured.”
Gyan may be ungainly, but it is his ability to hold the ball up and his ceaseless movement that occupies opposition defences and allows Ghana to field as many as four creators in midfield – a rarity in west Africa where, since the days of Pele and Nigeria’s Jay-Jay Okocha, the game has become increasingly direct and based on power.
His goal against Angola in the quarter-finals was typical, as he drifted behind the centre-back Francisco Zuela, opening the angle for Kwadwo Asamoah – at 21 perhaps the most promising midfield creator on the continent – to loft a long, diagonal ball into his path. Gathering it, Gyan held off Kali, Angola’s libero, and with great awareness and technique, clipped a precise low finish past Carlos Fernandes. His goal against Nigeria, bulleted in from a near-post corner, was rather more prosaic, but underlined what a threat he poses at set-pieces, a vital part of Ghana’s armoury given their largely defensive strategy.
Given he scored the fastest goal in the 2006 World Cup, when he reportedly drew admiring glances from Manchester United and Arsenal, it is easy to forget that Gyan is still only 24. It’s hard to know whether he is more surprised by his own change of fortune or by the progress of an inexperienced Ghana side who, missing a host of established players through injury, including Michael Essien, have been able to play without the pressure of expectation. “It’s unbelievable,” he said. “We’re a young team and nobody gave us a chance of reaching the final.”
Togo banned from two Cups of Nations
• Caf issues punishment because of ‘governmental interference’
• Togo withdrew after gun attack on coach which killed three
Togo have been punished for their decision to withdraw from the Africa Cup of Nations after a gun attack on their coach by being banned from the next two editions of the tournament, according to the Confederation of African Football (Caf).
The president of Caf, Issa Hayatou, told AFP that the reason for the ban was because Togo’s decision to pull out was based on “governmental interference”.
Three people were killed after the Togo squad was ambushed whilst travelling through the Cabinda region of Angola. Togo’s player flew home soon after, requesting time to mourn the dead, but were officially disqualified from the tournament after failing to turn up for their opening game against Ghana.
The separatist group, the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (Flec), claimed responsibility for the attack. The final of the tournament, between Ghana and Egypt, will take place tomorrow.
Shehata homes in on hat-trick for Egypt
• ‘Sergeant-major’ style coach plots Ghana’s downfall
• He is ‘like a father’ says striker Mohamed Zidan
Egypt went out of the Cup of Nations in the group stage six years ago but in 17 games since they are unbeaten. They won the tournament on home soil in 2006 and then became only the second North African side to win it in West Africa, triumphing in Ghana two years later.
Tomorrow, if they beat a youthful Ghana in the final, they will become the first team to win the tournament three times in succession.
It is not hard to pinpoint the reason for the upturn. After the departure of Marco Tardelli in 2004, Egypt turned to Hassan Shehata, and he has glowered successfully from behind his moustache ever since.
Once a prolific centre-forward with Zamalek, he was not an obvious choice, having developed a reputation as a promotion specialist, guiding Menia, Sharquia and Suez into the top flight in successive seasons before taking charge of the national youth set-up.
The 60-year-old insisted on a team ethic, stamping on the egos that had been so troublesome in the past. Perhaps the defining moment of his career came in the 2006 semi-final against Senegal after he substituted Mido. The then-Tottenham forward reacted furiously but as he and Shehata quarrelled on the touchline, his replacement Amr Zaki headed the winner: Shehata was vindicated and Mido has barely played for the national team since.
Religion is part of the process of bonding the team. In Ghana the squad joined in sacrificing a cow and they are expected to pray together. It is Islam that Shehata credits with having brought the at times tempestuous Borussia Dortmund forward Mohamed Zidan into line.
“I did not like how he used to be aloof and not mix with the rest,” he said. “I convinced him of the need to pray and how important it is. He has been praying since.”
It has clearly worked for Zidan, who missed the 2006 tournament because he preferred to fight for a place in the team at his German club Mainz. He has become an integral part of the side, setting up the only goal in the final two years ago and orchestrating the evisceration of Algeria on Thursday. “He’s a very good coach,” Zidan said. “What’s important is that he has a good relationship with us.”
With his refusal to co-operate with the media and brusque touchline manner, Shehata appears a sergeant-majorly figure but Zidan says the reality is very different. “He’s like a father,” he said. “We make jokes with him. He’s not a young coach and it’s strange to see somebody of his age who is so close to his team. Maybe other people don’t see this – they just see him in the game when he is tense and is giving us instructions.”
As ever, Shehata has imposed a media lockdown in the knockout stages of the tournament and it seems to work. If his side, who with 14 goals in five games have been by some way the best attacking team in the tournament, can overcome the best defence, he will equal the great Ghanaian coach CK Gyamfi’s record of three African titles.
Ghana v Egypt: How they compare
Cup of Nations record This will be a record eighth final for both sides, although it is Ghana’s first since they lost 11-10 on penalties to Ivory Coast in 1992. Egypt have won the title six times, Ghana four.
Key clash At 34 Ahmed Hassan remains probably the best creative midfielder in Africa but after almost a decade unchallenged the 21-year-old Ghanaian Kwadwo Asamoah has emerged as a worthy pretender. Their scrap in midfield could be crucial.
Preferred set-up Egypt will use the 3-5-2 that has brought them such sustained success, while Ghana will probably stick with their 4-4-1-1, which means Hany Said, the Egyptian sweeper, will have to step into midfield if they are not to be outnumbered there.
Africa Cup of Nations final: Ghana v Egypt, Luanda, Sunday 4pm (GMT)