Adebayor returns as Togo progress
Reuters - Tuesday 15 November 2011, 20:43
Emmanuel Adebayor
returned for Togo after an absence of almost two years for a
World Cup qualifier on Tuesday but it was Serge Gakpe who scored
the only goal in their 1-0 home win over Guinea Bissau.
Togo's victory in Lome ensured progress to the group phase
2-1 on aggregate after a 1-1 away draw in the first leg last
Friday.
Tottenham Hotspur striker Adebayor was making his first
international appearance since a fatal attack on the team's bus
ahead of the 2010 African Nations Cup finals in Angola.
He demanded increased security for the squad before agreeing
to return.
Togo were finalists at the World Cup in Germany in 2006 but
their poor form in recent years has seen them slip down the
rankings and forced to play in the opening knockout stage of
Africa's qualifiers for the 2014 finals in Brazil.
Adebayor's country will be joined in the next stage, which
kicks off in June, by Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda
and Tanzania.
The Democratic Republic of Congo played at the 1974 World
Cup finals as Zaire and are also seeking to restore past
glories.
Their 5-1 win over Swaziland on Tuesday ensured an 8-2
aggregate triumph.
Namibia recorded an 8-0 aggregate victory over Djibouti
after winning 4-0 in Windhoek on Tuesday.
Kenya beat Seychelles by the same score in Nairobi for a 7-0
aggregate triumph while Mozambique won 5-1 overall against
Comoros Islands.
Lesotho upset the form book by eliminating Burundi on the
away goals rule. The day's biggest upset was an away draw for
tiny Sao Tome e Principe.
The former Portuguese colony had not played a match for
eight years before Friday's first leg at home to Congo, a game
they lost 5-0.
But instead of being on the end of another big defeat in the
return in Pointe Noire, Sao Tome held their hosts to a 1-1 draw.
Africa's second round of qualifiers sees 40 countries
divided into 10 groups of four. The section winners will
progress to the final round of play-off matches in 2013.