22nd January, 2013
Didier Drogba and Emmanuel Adebayor will be on parade when Ivory Coast Face Togo at the Africa Cup of Nations group match today.
The Tottenham Hotspur striker, Adebayor will try to settle a score with former Chelsea frontman, Drogba when Togolese’ Hawks face the Ivorians’ Elephants.
Two of Africa’s most successful players have been rivals for years and Adebayor is hoping his Togo side will put Drogba’s Ivory Coast to the sword in their opening Group D match and go some way to making him feel better about last season.
Ivory Coast’s starting line-up is no secret as Drogba, Gervinho, the Toure brothers and Zokora are regulars as opposed to Togo, of whom little is known except the inner-team strife.
Togo captain and striker Emmanuel Adebayor is without a doubt their most recognised player, and after much confusion, will participate at AFCON.
The Tottenham ace initially refused to come to South Africa amid security fears, and then was dramatically dropped before a Togo Football Association manager stepped in.
The Elephants are aiming to stick to their tradition of starting off well in their first group game against the Togolese, who are returning with unpredictability.
The Elephants are on the warpath in search of their second continental crown following that of 1992, and will try to forget their repeated failures of 2006 and 2012 which saw them defeated in both finals, following penalty shootouts against Egypt and Zambia.
Tunisian born French Coach Sabri Lamouchi, who replaced François Zahoui last May will count on the experience of his charges led by former Drogba and Manchester City duo of Toure brothers, Yaya and Kolo.
Arsenal’s Gervinho plus striker Arouna Kone among others.
And for their big debut in the South African tournament, the Elephants are rearing to go with a full house and no injury concerns.
But Togo refuse to wear the loser’s badge as a foregone conclusion for their debut at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
Despite a warm-up period perturbed by internal conflict, the coach of the Sparrow hawks Didier Six can count on Emmanuel Adebayor, Alaixys Romao and many of his other stars to lead the way.
Labelled the underdogs of Group D, the Togolese national team have every intention of being a killjoy at this Afcon CAN 2013.