Togo - In the Group of Certain Death

Everybody likes to pick one of the minnows to follow during a major football tournament, usually for us English it is Scotland, unfortunately they haven't qualified so I've chosen the team currently ranked 61st by FIFA - Togo.

Togo's football team are nicknamed Les Eperviers (The Sparrow Hawks). This is the first World Cup finals appearance in their history. The have a German coach in Otto Pfister and they have been drawn in Group G along with France, Switzerland and South Korea. Well, you've heard of the 'Group of Death', Group G looks like the Group of Certain Death, the only hope they have is if they can make a decent start against Korea on Tuesday 13th June at Frankfurt.

I watched Togo in the African Cup of Nations back in February and like a lot of the African nations they are good going forward but a little naive at the back, they finished bottom of Group B, a group consisting of Cameroon, DR Congo and fellow World Cup qualifiers Angola.

They have one good player in 22-year-old Emmanuel Adebayor, who joined Arsenal from AS Monaco in the January transfer window, but who looked completely out of sorts in the Premiership. He does however have the sort of pace and ability that could provide trouble for any defence.

They actually remind me of Zaire circa 1974 and I can see France giving them a good tonking if the French need to get goals to qualify for the knockout stages.

Okay some facts about the country:

Population: 5.1 million (UN, 2005)
Capital: Lome
Area: 56,785 sq km (21,925 sq miles)
Major languages: French (official), local languages
Major religions: Indigenous beliefs, Christianity, Islam
Life expectancy: 52 years (men), 56 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 CFA (Communaute Financiere Africaine) franc = 100 centimes
Main exports: Cocoa, phosphates, coffee, cotton
GNI per capita: US $380 (World Bank, 2005)
Internet domain: .tg
International dialling code: +228

Bookies Rating: 500/1

A Recipe from Togo

Peanut Sauce- to go with rice :
3 tbs oil
2 tbs tomato paste
1/2 -1tsp of your favorite piment (hot pepper)
1/2 tsp salt
1 beef bullion cube-
1 cup water-or more depending on the density of the peanut butter you’re using
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup diced onion

Saute tomato paste, hot pepper, salt, onion and bullion cube in oil for a few minutes. Add peanut butter and water. All natural peanut butter is better than the processed type because it doesn’t have any sugar that clashes with the salt. Mix and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Makes enough sauce for 3 servings (1 1/2 cups dry rice).