Adebayor withdraws from Togo trip

The Arsenal striker's decision was made after a row with players demanding that the president of the Togo Football Federation (TFF) travel with them.

But the TFF said Tata Avlessi Adaglo not fly as he was preparing for the funeral of his mother.
...
The rest of the team accepted this, but Adebayor remained in Lome.

A TFF spokesman later confirmed to the BBC that Adebayor had stayed in the Togolese capital.

Togo had already suffered a troubled build-up to the match, following the resignation last week of their French coach Henri Stambouli after only four months in office.

The TFF told the players that his vice president Gabriel Ameyi traveling instead of Adaglo, and the rest of the team flew from Lome, on Tuesday.

The Hawks' clash with Zambia was originally to take place on Saturday, after being postponed as a mark of respect for President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia, who died in August.

Zambia sports minister Gabriel Namulambe has urged his compatriots to win convincingly as a tribute to the late president.

"Since this game has been devoted to the president, Dr Mwanawasa, we will win at any cost and with a good margin," he said.

It is one of two qualifiers rescheduled on Wednesday, playing with Sudan Chad neutral venue in Cairo for the second time in four days.

Sudan defeated Chad 2-1 in the first tie of the double header between the two sides on Saturday.

The first qualifying match between the pair had been scheduled for May 31, but after an attack in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum for a rebel group in Darfur, Sudan broke diplomatic relations with Chad, Chad and refused to travel to play at Khartoum.

After the two countries resumed relations in late July, Fife organized for the two qualifiers to be played in Egypt.