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Wednesday February 8, 2006

Coach Keshi may not get to lead Togo to the World Cup

CAIRO: “It's not the winning that counts, it's the taking part,” was modern Olympics founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin's mantra but nowadays his comment sounds naive and idealistic in the era of professional sport.

Nowhere more so than in football.

Coaches can be in danger despite taking their teams to previously unknown frontiers such as the four who succeeded in guiding their African teams to the World Cup finals for the first time in their history.

At least one of them, Togo's Stephen Keshi and the coach of the fifth World Cup bound African side Roger Lemerre of Tunisia, who have been to several World Cup finals, are in danger of not making it to Germany thanks to a poor African Nations Cup.

If they were forced to fall on their swords they would join South Africa's Ted Dumitru – who managed the singular feat of seeing his side fail to register a point or score a goal – and Claude Le Roy, who admitted he had had enough of the financial fiascos surrounding Democratic Republic of Congo football and despite a last eight slot called it a day.

Keshi was hailed as a hero only a few months ago after the former Nigerian international somehow succeeded in inspiring Togo to top their group including 2002 World Cup quarter-finalists Senegal.

However, a nightmare African Nations Cup here, which started off dreadfully and got worse has all but sealed his fate, especially as he dared to challenge the supremacy of star striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

Having had to be separated by the rest of the squad before they came to blows on the team bus even an uneasy truce failed to convince anyone that the two could ever work together again.

Comments such as Keshi calling Adebayor a 'cry baby' and the Arsenal striker alleging that his coach had tried to act as his agent in his transfer to England from Monaco are hardly the definition found in a dictionary under the word 'reconciliation'.

Keshi took it in his stride but while Sir Alex Ferguson can dispense of star players like David Beckham and Roy Keane, if he feels that they are getting out of hand, and survive, sadly the Togo coach is not in the same position.

“It's only football. There's more to life than that,” said a defiant Keshi, although the hurt was evident. – AFP

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