A vital international break for Spurs fans
A rather important fixture takes place on Thursday and one Tottenham fans should be very interested in.
It has nothing to do with England or any of the major playing nations, no it takes place in Africa, as part of the Africa Cup of Nations qualification. Morocco are the hosts in January so they have qualified automatically.
The top 21 teams received a bye to group stages so for anyone not up on African football here is the list with their CAF ranking to give you some idea of the ability of each team.
African Cup of Nations Teams and CAF Rankings
The two important teams for Tottenham fans are in Group E and ranked 11th and 26th, Togo vs Uganda. There is an assumption among Spurs fans that Tottenham will be without Emmanuel Adebayor in January as he takes part in the African Cup of Nations but as I pointed out at the time everyone was shouting we needed to buy a striker, Togo have to qualify first.
They may be the 11th best team in Africa but qualification is not going according to play and a loss to Uganda would virtually see them out of the tournament. Togo are in a group E.
Group E
Ghana 2nd
Togo 11th
Guinea 19th
Uganda 26th
As you can see from the table below they have lost their first two games to heap pressure on themselves.
The table above shows Togo lost to Ghana, ranked 2nd, at home and Guinea, ranked 19th away. The lowest ranked team top the table having drawn with Ghana away and beaten Guinea at home.
The Group winners, runners-up ans the best third team qualify for the finals, none of which Togo are on course to achieve. Love him or hate him Tottenham could do without losing a player to the African Cup of Nations in January so this international break could be decisive.
Togo play Uganda away on Saturday 11th October at the Mandela National Stadium, Kampala and then they play Uganda at home on Wednesday 15th October at the Stade de Kégué, Lomé.
Time to watch the results with interest.
It has nothing to do with England or any of the major playing nations, no it takes place in Africa, as part of the Africa Cup of Nations qualification. Morocco are the hosts in January so they have qualified automatically.
The top 21 teams received a bye to group stages so for anyone not up on African football here is the list with their CAF ranking to give you some idea of the ability of each team.
African Cup of Nations Teams and CAF Rankings
Nigeria (39.5 pts)
Ghana (38 pts)
Ivory Coast (36 pts)
Zambia (33 pts)
Burkina Faso (32 pts)
Mali (30 pts)
Tunisia (22.5 pts)
Algeria (18 pts)
Angola (17 pts)
Cape Verde (16.5 pts)
Togo (14.5 pts)
Egypt (14.5 pts)
South Africa (13.5 pts)
Cameroon (13.5 pts)
DR Congo (12 pts)
Ethiopia (12 pts)
Gabon (12 pts)
Niger (11 pts)
Guinea (11 pts)
Senegal (11 pts)
Sudan (10.5 pts)
Teams having to play qualification games.
Libya (10.5 pts)
Equatorial Guinea (9 pts)
Botswana (8 pts)
Malawi (7 pts)
Uganda (6.5 pts)
Mozambique (6 pts)
Benin (5.5 pts)
Sierra Leone (5 pts)
Congo (5 pts)
Central African Republic (4.5 pts)
Zimbabwe (4 pts)
Kenya (4 pts)
Liberia (3.5 pts)
Gambia (3.5 pts)
Rwanda (3.5 pts)
Tanzania (3.5 pts)
Namibia (3 pts)
Burundi (2 pts)
Lesotho (2 pts)
Guinea-Bissau (1.5 pts)
Madagascar (1.5 pts)
Chad (1 pt)
São Tomé and Príncipe (1 pt)
Seychelles (1 pts)
Comoros (0.5 pts)
Swaziland (0.5 pts)
Mauritius (0.5 pts)
Eritrea (0 pts)
Mauritania (0 pts)
South Sudan (0 pts)
The two important teams for Tottenham fans are in Group E and ranked 11th and 26th, Togo vs Uganda. There is an assumption among Spurs fans that Tottenham will be without Emmanuel Adebayor in January as he takes part in the African Cup of Nations but as I pointed out at the time everyone was shouting we needed to buy a striker, Togo have to qualify first.
They may be the 11th best team in Africa but qualification is not going according to play and a loss to Uganda would virtually see them out of the tournament. Togo are in a group E.
Group E
Ghana 2nd
Togo 11th
Guinea 19th
Uganda 26th
As you can see from the table below they have lost their first two games to heap pressure on themselves.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uganda | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 4 |
| Ghana | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 4 |
| Guinea | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 3 |
| Togo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 0 |
| | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghana | — | 15 Oct | 19 Nov | 1–1 |
| Guinea | 11 Oct | — | 2–1 | 19 Nov |
| Togo | 2–3 | 14–15 Nov | — | 15 Oct |
| Uganda | 14–15 Nov | 2–0 | 11 Oct | — |
The table above shows Togo lost to Ghana, ranked 2nd, at home and Guinea, ranked 19th away. The lowest ranked team top the table having drawn with Ghana away and beaten Guinea at home.
The Group winners, runners-up ans the best third team qualify for the finals, none of which Togo are on course to achieve. Love him or hate him Tottenham could do without losing a player to the African Cup of Nations in January so this international break could be decisive.
Togo play Uganda away on Saturday 11th October at the Mandela National Stadium, Kampala and then they play Uganda at home on Wednesday 15th October at the Stade de Kégué, Lomé.
| Uganda | v | Togo |
|---|
| Togo | v | Uganda |
|---|
Time to watch the results with interest.
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