From beginning to end, the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola will have been overshadowed by the ambush of the Togo national team's bus and its aftermath. That was assured Saturday when the African soccer confederation made the astounding decision to ban Togo from the next two competitions because it withdrew from the 2010 finals after the attack.
As Piers Edwards notes, "while words such as 'cruel' and 'inhumane' are already being applied by football fans to the decision -- 'stupid' has also followed." The reason given for the suspension was that the decision by the Togolese government to order the Sparrow Hawks to return home came less than 20 days before the start of the tournament.
The staggeringly insensitive decision -- which Togo has appealed -- raises doubts where Issa Hayatou, the African confederation president for the last 22 years, should remain in power.
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