Adebayor turns back on National team
Emmanuel Adebayor, the Manchester City forward, has made the courageous decision to hang up his International boots after failing to get over the traumatic events that rocked the Togo National team back in January.
Whilst Adebayor and his teammates were travelling to the African Nations Cup in Angola earlier this year, their team bus was attacked by a group of armed men who injured numerous players and officials and took the lives of 3 of the passengers, including the driver of the bus.
In a statement on the Manchester City website, Adebayor said:
“Following the tragic events during January’s African Cup of Nations, in which two of my fellow countrymen were killed by terrorists in Angola, I have made the very difficult decision to retire from international football. I have weighed up my feelings in the weeks and months since the attack, and I am still haunted by the events which I witnessed on that horrible afternoon on the Togo team bus. We were just footballers going to play a football match and represent our country, yet we were attacked by people who wanted to kill us all. It is a moment I will never forget and one I never want to experience again.”
One has to respect Adebayor’s decision, which is clearly a direct result of the attack. For a world class talent like Adebayor to quit the International scene displays the difficulty that he has had getting over what he witnessed that day, and the memories are obviously too horrific for Adebayor to step back on a Togo National team bus again.
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What a traumatic moment it was for the whole Togo team, and yes we cannot blame Adebayor to leave the national squad following this mishap, and I sincerely hope such incident never happen again when teams go out to play in foreign countries, specially when the world cup is nearing
A tragedy for the innocent victims and for African football.
With luck, Emmanuel Adebayor can give something back to Togolese football without being a playing role model for the National team.
You have to respect his decision and pour scorn on the African Federation, who, if memory serves tried to ban Togo from competing in later African Cup of Nations competitions during all the politicking that occurred after their withdrawl this year.