Togo keeps waiting for Adebayor

JOHANNESBURG - Agence France-Presse

Adebayor is the highest-profile player of the Togo international team. AP Photo

Togo star Emmanuel Adebayor has less than a week to decide whether he will play at the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa as the January 9 deadline for naming final squads looms.

The gangling 28-year-old Tottenham Hotspur striker apparently retired after scoring the only goal of a friendly win over fellow qualifiers Morocco in Casablanca two months ago.

Initial reports suggested Adebayor had quit the “Sparrowhawks” because of the perennial complaint among Togolese footballers of unpaid bonuses but the national team captain stressed his decision was security related.

He survived an attack on the squad ahead of the 2010 Cup of Nations in Angola in which a footballer and an official were killed by separatists seeking independence for the Cabinda enclave.

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas told Daily Mail that Adebayor had not decided whether to accept an invite from Togo to join the squad for a tough Group D schedule against Ivory Coast, Algeria and Tunisia.